Aspergillus containing beta-glucosidase, beta-glucosidases and nucleic acids encoding the same

ABSTRACT

A novel microorganism is provided named  Aspergillus saccharolyticus . Further, beta-glucosidase enzymes encoded by said microorganism are provided, and the use thereof in the degradation of lignocellulosic material. Also, host organisms comprising the polypeptides of the invention and/or polynucleotides encoding these are provided. In addition, methods, compositions, and kit-of-parts are provided which comprise any component of the invention, and optionally any additional components.

This application is a 371 of PCT/DK2011/050296, filed Aug. 1, 2011,which claims priority to Danish application No. PA 2010 70347 filed Jul.30, 2011.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to an Aspergillus strain AP, Aspergillussaccharolyticus, producing a superior novel beta-glucosidase enzyme forefficient saccharafication of lignocellulosic biomasses.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Exploitation of lignocellulosic biomasses for production of biofuels,biochemicals, and pharmaceuticals is alternative to the world's limitedfossil resources. Bio refineries should replace oil refineries,producing the same products, but using renewable resources:lignocellulosic biomasses. Lignocellulosic biomasses mainly consist ofcellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin, with different distribution ofeach component depending on the specific plant species, from which it isderived. Cellulose is of great interest in terms of creating a sugarplatform for biofuels and chemicals as its hydrolysis product, glucose,can readily be fermented into ethanol or converted into high valuechemicals. Cellulose is a polymer of the simple sugar glucose covalentlybonded by beta-1,4-glycosidic linkages. Many microorganisms produceenzymes that hydrolyze beta-linked glucans. These enzymes includeendoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, and beta-glucosidases. The completehydrolysis of cellulose involves the synergistic action ofcellobiohydrolases (EC 3.2.1.91), endoglucanases (EC 3.2.1.4), andbeta-glucosidases (EC 3.2.1.21). The cellobiohydrolases are capable ofdegrading the crystalline parts of cellulose by cleaving off cellobiosemolecules from the ends of the cellulose chains. The endoglucanasesdigest the cellulose polymer at random locations, hydrolyzing glucosidicbonds of the more amorphous regions of the cellulose, decreasing thedegree of polymerization and opening it to attack by cellobiohydrolasesby creating more free ends for attack by cellobiohydrolases. Finally,the beta-glucosidases act in the liquid phase hydrolyzing mainlycellobiose (a water-soluble beta-1,4-linked dimer of glucose) toglucose, but also to some extent cellodextrins, sugars with a low degreeof polymerization.

Historically, enzymes from Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger areknown as a good match for the hydrolysis of cellulose; T. reesei enzymesmainly contributing with cellobiohydrolase and endoglucanase activityand A. niger enzymes with beta-glucosidase activity (Sternberg D et al.Can J Microbiol 1977; 2:139-47). Beta-glucosidases are of key importanceas they are needed to supplement the cellobiohydrolase and endoglucanaseactivities for final glucose release and at the same time decreasing theaccumulation of cellobiose and shorter cellooligmers that are known asproduct inhibitors for the cellobiohydrolases (Zhang Y-P et al.Biotechnol Adv 2006; 5:452-81). Especially efficient beta-glucosidases,that are not themselves easily inhibited by their substrate, glucose,are of great interest. Currently, most commercial cellulase preparationsare produced by T. reesei, e.g. Celluclast 1.5 L (Novozymes A/S), whichhas to be supplemented with extra beta-glucosidase activity from anothersource, e.g. Novozym 188 (Novozymes A/S), in order to improve cellulosehydrolysis. However, the commercial available beta-glucosidases haverelatively low long-term temperature stability. Robustness,thermostability and substrate specificity are very importantcharacteristics for enzymes to be applied in industrial processes.

The conversion of cellulosic feedstocks into bioethanol has theadvantages of the ready availability of large amounts of feedstock, thedesirability of avoiding burning or land filling the materials, and thecleanliness of the ethanol fuel. Wood, agricultural residues, herbaceouscrops, and municipal solid wastes have been considered as feedstocks forethanol production. These materials primarily consist of cellulose,hemicellulose, and lignin. Once the cellulose is converted to glucose,the glucose is easily processed, for example fermented by yeast intoethanol. Since glucose is readily fermented to ethanol by a variety ofyeasts while cellobiose is not, any cellobiose remaining at the end ofthe hydrolysis represents a loss of yield of ethanol. More importantly,cellobiose is a potent inhibitor of endoglucanases andcellobiohydrolases. The accumulation of cellobiose during hydrolysis isextremely undesirable for ethanol production. Other than biofuels, themonomeric sugars (including glucose) produced by enzymatic hydrolysis inthe biorefinery will be used as a platform for biochemicals, plastics,pharmaceuticals, etc.

Cellobiose accumulation has been a major problem in enzymatic hydrolysisbecause cellulase-producing microorganisms produce littlebeta-glucosidase. The low amount of beta-glucosidase results in ashortage of capacity to hydrolyze the cellobiose to glucose. Severalapproaches have been used to increase the amount of beta-glucosidase incellulose conversion to glucose.

Thus it would be an advantage in the art to provide beta-glucosidaseswith improved properties for converting cellulosic materials topolysaccharides, cellodextrins, disaccharides and monosaccharides.Improved properties include altered temperature-dependent activityprofiles, thermostability, pH activity, pH stability, and substratespecificity.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to the identification of a novel andimproved beta-glucosidase producing strain of the fungus Aspergillus,namely Aspergillus saccharolyticus, which is efficient in thedegradation of lignocellulosic biomasses into glucose for production ofbiofuels, biochemicals and pharmaceuticals. Several enzymes of the newlyidentified strain are efficient in degradation of lignocellulosicbiomasses. In particular one enzyme has been identified andcharacterised as having improved beta-glucosidase activity. Theidentified beta-glucosidase has improved thermal stability, whilemaintaining its activity at a high level for a prolonged period of timecompared to other fungal beta-glucosidases. This makes it a superiorchoice for degradation of lignocellulosic material.

In one aspect, the present invention relates to an isolated polypeptidecomprising

-   -   a. an amino acids consisting of the SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13,    -   b. a biologically active sequence variant of SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7,        10, or 13, wherein the variant has at least 92% sequence        identity to said SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13, or    -   c. a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive        amino acids of any of a) through b), wherein said fragment is a        fragment of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13.

In a preferred embodiment the polypeptide is purified from Aspergillussaccharolyticus, such as deposit no.: CBS 127449. The polypeptide iscapable of degrading or converting lignocellulosic material that may beobtained from various sources. In a preferred embodiment the polypeptideof the present invention is capable of hydrolyzing a β1-4 bond linkingtwo glucose or glucose-substituted molecules. A second aspect of theinvention relates to an isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleicacid or its complementary sequence being selected from the groupconsisting of

-   -   a. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting        of an amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13,    -   b. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologicaly active        sequence variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the variant        has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO 3, 4, 7,        10, or 13, and    -   c. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active        fragment of at least 30 contiguous consecutive amino acids of        any of a) through b), wherein said fragment is a fragment of SEQ        ID NO 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13 or    -   d. SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, or 29, or fragments of        at least 90 contiguous nucleotides thereof, or    -   e. a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having at        least 88% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 or 29,        or fragments of at least 90 contiguous nucleotides thereof or    -   f. a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9,        11, 12, or 29, or fragments of at least 30 contiguous        nucleotides thereof, and    -   g. a polynucleotide complementary to any of a) to f).

The polynucleotide may be used for cloning purposes and for productionof the polypeptide of the invention. Thus, in a third aspect, thepresent invention also relates to a recombinant nucleic acid vectorcomprising a polynucleotide of the invention.

It is appreciated that the polynucleotide and/or the recombinant nucleicacid vector of the present invention may be introduced into host cells.Accordingly, the invention in a fourth aspect pertains to a recombinanthost cell comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention and/or anucleic acid vector of the invention.

A fifth aspect of the invention relates to an isolated microorganismcomprising a polypeptide of the invention, a polynucleotide of theinvention and/or a recombinant nucleic acid vector of the invention. Theisolated microorganism is in one preferred embodiment the newlydiscovered strain Aspergillus saccharolyticcus of the invention orprogeny thereof.

A sixth aspect relates to a method of producing a polypeptide asdisclosed in the present invention comprising

-   -   a. cultivating a microorganism, where said microorganism        produces said polypeptide,    -   b. recovering the polypeptide from said microorganism.

The microorganism may thus comprise a polynucleotide of the inventionand/or a recombinant nucleic acid vector of the invention. Themicroorganism may be any microorganism suitable for the purpose. In apreferred embodiment, wherein microorganism is Aspergillus, andparticularly Aspergillus saccharolyticcus or progeny thereof.

According to the invention the polypeptide, recombinant host cell and/ormicroorganism may be used in a composition. Thus, a seventh aspectrelated to a composition comprising at least one polypeptide of theinvention, at least one recombinant host cell of the invention and/or atleast one microorganism of the invention.

It is further appreciated that the polypeptide, recombinant nucleic acidvector, recombinant host cell, microorganism and/or composition of thepresent invention may be combined with other components. Thus, a furtheraspect pertains to a kit-of parts comprising at least one polypeptide ofthe invention, at least one recombinant nucleic acid vector of theinvention, at least one recombinant host cell of the invention, at leastone isolated microorganism of the invention and/or at least onecomposition of the invention, and at least one additional component. Anadditional component is typically enzymes that aid in the degradation orconversion of biomass for example cellulases, endogluconase,cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase, hemicellulase, esterase, laccase,protease and/or peroxidise.

The invention in yet a further aspect relates to a method for degradingor converting a lignocellulosic material, said method comprising a)incubating said lignocellulosic material with at least one polypeptideof the invention, at least one microorganism of the invention, at leastone recombinant host of the invention, at least one composition of theinvention and/or at least one kit-of parts of the invention and b)recovering the degraded lignocellolosic material.

In a further aspect the invention pertains to a method for fermenting acellulosic material, said method comprising

-   -   a. treating the cellulosic material with at least one        polypeptide of the invention, at least one recombinant host cell        of the invention, at least one microorganism of the invention,        at least one composition of the invention, at least one kit-of        parts of the invention, and    -   b. incubating the treated cellulosic material with one or more        fermenting microorganisms.    -   c. obtaining at least one fermentation product.

In addition to the aspects mentioned above, the present invention alsopertains to the following related aspects. In one related aspect, theinvention relates to an isolated microorganism of the speciesAspergillus saccharolyticus, in particular the microorganim as depositedin the Centraalbereau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS) and having accessionnumber CBS 127449, or a descendant or a functional mutant thereof.

In another aspect, the present invention relates to an isolatedpolypeptide identified as a beta-glucosidase comprising

-   -   a. an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or        13    -   b. a biologically active sequence variant of any of SEQ NO: 3,        4, 7, 10, or 13, wherein said variant has at least 92% sequence        identity to said SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13, or    -   c. a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive        amino acids of any of the amino acid sequences of a) through b.

The polypeptide is for example purified from Aspergillussaccharolyticus, such as deposit no.: CBS 127449, but it may also beheterologously expressed from a recombinant host cell and purifiedtherefrom. The polypeptide is capable of hydrolyzing cellobiose and/orcellodextrins, by hydrolyzing a β1-4 glucose-glucose linkage.

The invention also pertains to an isolated polynucleotide comprising anucleic acid or its complementary sequence being selected from the groupconsisting of

-   -   a. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting        of an amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13    -   b. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologicaly active        sequence variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the variant        has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7,        10, or 13 and    -   c. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active        fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acids of any of the        amino acid sequences of a) through b), or    -   d. SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 29, or fragments of at        least 90 contiguous nucleotides thereof, or    -   e. a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having at        least 89% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14,        15, 16, 17, 29 or fragments of at least 30 contiguous        nucleotides thereof, or    -   f. a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9,        11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 29, or fragments of at least 30        contiguous nucleotides thereof, and    -   g. a polynucleotide complementary to any of a) to f).

The invention also relates to a recombinant nucleic acid vectorcomprising a polynucleotide of the present invention.

Moreover, the invention relates to a host cell and/or an Aspergillussaccharolyticus microorganism or a descendant or functional mutantthereof, which comprises a polypeptide, a polynucleotide and/or arecombinant nucleic acid vector according to the invention.

The invention also pertains to a method of producing a polypeptide, saidmethod comprising

-   -   a. cultivating a host cell and/or a microorganism of the        invention, and    -   b. recovering said polypeptide from said microorganism.

Furthermore, the invention encompass a composition comprising apolypeptide, a host cell and/or a microorganism of the invention, andthe invention also pertains to a kit-of parts comprising such acomposition and at least one additional component. The additionalcomponent is for example selected from the group consisting ofcellulases, endogluconase, cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase,hemicellulase, esterase, laccase, protease and peroxidise.

In one important aspect, the invention relates to a method of degradingor converting a lignocellulosic material, said method comprisingincubating said lignocellulosic material with a composition or a kit-ofparts of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. Extracellular beta-glucosidase activity of screened fungi grownin simple submerged fermentation. pNPG was used as substrate in theassays, with one unit (U) of enzyme activity defined as the amount ofenzyme needed to hydrolyze 1 umol pNPG in 1 minute.

FIG. 2. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree based on ITS1 region sequencedata of black Aspergillus, including strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus, and using A. flavus as out group. Numbers above thebranches are bootstrap values. Bar, 0.02 substitutions per nucleotide.

FIG. 3. Beta-glucosidase activity of extracts from selected Aspergilligrown in simple submerged fermentation (*=type strain). One unit (U) ofenzyme activity is defined as the amount of enzyme needed to hydrolyze 1umol pNPG in 1 minute.

FIG. 4. pH profile. Beta-glucosidase activity of Strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus and Novoym 188 at different pH measured on pNPG.Endoglucanase activity of Celluclast 1.5 L at different pH measured onAZO-CMC.

FIG. 5. Product inhibition; remaining beta-glucosidase activity atdifferent inhibitor (glucose) concentrations relative to activitymeasured without inhibitor. A: pNPG as substrate, activity measured byrelease of pNP. B: cellobiose as substrate, activity measured bydecrease in cellobiose concentration.

FIG. 6. Time course of thermal inactivation of the beta-glucosidases of(A) strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus, (B) Novozym 188, and (C)Cellic CTec. Thermostability is evaluated based on the remainingactivity after 0-4 hours of incubation at different temperaturesrelative to the activity without incubation.

FIG. 7. Hydrolysis of cellohexaose by Strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus extract, Novozym 188, Celluclast 1.5 L, and Cellic CTecshowing a clear difference in the mode of action.

FIG. 8. Hydrolysis of bagasse using different enzyme ratios of StrainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus or Novozym 188 relative to Celluclast 1.5L.

FIG. 9. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree based on partial calmodulingene sequence data for Aspergillus section Nigri. Numbers above thebranches are bootstrap values. Only values above 70% are indicated. Bar,0.02 substitutions per nucleotide.

FIG. 10. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree based on ITS sequence datafor Aspergillus section Nigri. Numbers above the branches are bootstrapvalues. Only values above 70% are indicated. Bar, 0.02 substitutions pernucleotide.

FIG. 11. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree based on partialbeta-tubulin gene sequence data for Aspergillus section Nigri. Numbersabove the branches are bootstrap values. Only values above 70% areindicated. Bar, 0.02 substitutions per nucleotide.

FIG. 12. Universally Primed-PCR analysis using each of the two UPprimers, L45 and L15/AS19. Loaded in lanes: 1&2) A. saccharolyticus sp.nov. CBS 127449^(T), 3) A. aculeatinus CBS 121060^(T), 4) A. ellipticusCBS 707.79^(T), 5) A. homomorphus CBS 101889^(T), 6)A. niger CBS554.65^(T), 7) A. uvarum CBS 121591^(T), 8) A. auleatus CBS 172.66^(T),9) A. japonicus CBS 114.51^(T)

FIG. 13. Extrolite profile from YES agar (14 days 25° C.) of A.saccharolyticus sp. nov. CBS 127449^(T). Above is the ESI⁺ trace (m/z100-900) and below the UV trace (200-700 nm, 0.05 min ahead of ESI⁺).Mono isotopic masses (M_(m)) of major peaks are inserted. The UVspectrum of two related compounds, ACU-1 and ACU-2, with identical UVspectra is also inserted.

FIG. 14. A. saccharolyticus sp. nov. CBS 127449^(T). A) conidia, B-C)conidial heads, D-H) Three-point inoculation on CREA, CYA, CYA 37° C.,MEA, and CYAS, respectively, incubated 7 days

FIG. 15. A. saccharolyticus sp. nov. CBS 127449^(T) three pointinoculation on CYA, incubation at different temperatures, growthobservation day 7.

FIG. 16. Sketch of the cloning vector, pAN7-1 modified with a cassetteof RP27 promoter, beta-glucosidase gene bgl1, his-tail, and beta-tubulinterminator inserted at the Pcil restriction site.

FIG. 17. Beta-glucosidase activity and protein content of the differentfractions from ion exchange, and SDS-page 4-12% of fractions 14-23 withhigh beta-glucosidase activity. Fractions 2-6 are flow through from theload, fractions 7-8 are wash prior to gradient elution, fractions 9-38are gradient elution, and fractions 39-45 are final column stripping.

FIG. 18. SDS-page 12-20%, lane 1) A. cellulolyticus raw extract, lane 2)fraction #15 from the ion exchange fractionation, lane 3) His-tagpurified BGL1

FIG. 19. Alignment of proposed active site region (boxed) of differentaspergilli GH3 beta-glucosidases, the Gen Bank accession number is givenin parenthesis

FIG. 20. A) Substrate saturation plot where enzyme activity is relatedto substrate concentration with the two substrates, pNPG and cellobiose.B) Relative beta-glucosidase activity at different inhibitorconcentrations with a substrate concentration of 5 mM pNPG.

FIG. 21. A) Thermostability of BGL 1 incubated at different temperaturesfor different time period followed by assaying at 50° C., pH 4.8, 10 minreactions. T_(1/2)=half-life, calculated for temperatures above 60° C.B) pH profile of BGL1 assayed at 50° C., varying pH, 10 min reactions.

FIG. 22. Snap shot at different time points of the hydrolysis ofcellohexaose for analysis of the degradation pattern. G1= glucose, G2=cellobiose, G3= cellotriose, G4=cellotetraose, G5=cellopentaose,G6=cellohexaose.

FIG. 23. Homology model of the catalytic module of beta-glucosidase fromAspergillus saccharolyticus. A. Ribbon cartoon representation of thecatalytic module showing the important residues for catalysis (inroyal-blue) and substrate/product binding (in spring-green). Glucose (ingray) is modeled into the catalytic site. The part of the loop marked‘Y’ is not modeled. B. Stereo diagram illustrating the comparison ofbeta-glucosidase homology model of A. saccharolyticus (in steel-blue)with the template structure from T. neapolitana (PDB entry 2X41) (inorange-red). The catalytic nucleophile (D261) and the acid/base (E490)are shown in gold.

FIG. 24. NCBI blastn of BGL1 gDNA, closest identity 74%

FIG. 25. NCBI blastn of BGL1 cDNA without signal sequence, closestidentity 84%

FIG. 26. NCBI blastx of BGL1 gDNA, closest identity 96%

FIG. 27. NCBI blastx of BGL1 cDNA, without signal sequence, closestidentity 91%

FIG. 28. NCBI blastp of BGL1 polypeptide, without signal sequence,closest identity 91%

FIG. 29. NCBI blastn of BGL2 gDNA, closest identity 78%

FIG. 30. NCBI blastn of BGL2 cDNA, without signal sequence, closestidentity 78%

FIG. 31. NCBI blastx of BGL2 gDNA, closest identity 87%

FIG. 32. NCBI blastx of BGL2 cDNA, closest identity 87%

FIG. 33. NCBI blastp of BGL2 polypeptide, without signal sequence,closest identity 73%

FIG. 34. NCBI blastn of BGL3 gDNA, closest identity 88%

FIG. 35. NCBI blastn of BGL3 cDNA, without signal sequence, closestidentity 84%

FIG. 36. NCBI blastx of BGL3 gDNA, closest identity 92%

FIG. 37. NCBI blastx of BGL3 cDNA, without signal sequence, closestidentity 75%

FIG. 38. NCBI blastp of BGL3 polypeptide, without signal sequence,closest identity 75%

FIG. 39. NCBI blastn of BGL4 gDNA, closest identity 77%

FIG. 40. NCBI blastn of BGL4 cDNA, without signal sequence, closestidentity 71%

FIG. 41. NCBI blastx of BGL4 gDNA, closest identity 86%

FIG. 42. NCBI blastx of BGL4 cDNA, without signal sequence, closestidentity 78%

FIG. 43. NCBI blastn of beta-tubulin partial coding sequence, SEQ ID NO:14, closest identity 87%

FIG. 44. NCBI blastn of calmodulin partial coding sequence, SEQ ID NO:15, closest identity 89% and

FIG. 45. NCBI blastn of ITS partial coding sequence, SEQ ID NO: 16,closest identity 89%.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definitions

Unless otherwise stated, the following terms used in this application,including the specification and claims, have the definitions givenbelow. It must be noted that, as used in the specification and theappended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include pluralreferents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Definition ofstandard chemistry terms may be found in reference works, includingCarey and Sundberg (1992) “Advanced Organic Chemistry 3^(rd) Ed.” Vols.A and B, Plenum Press, New York. The practice of the present inventionwill employ, unless otherwise indicated, conventional methods of massspectroscopy, protein chemistry, biochemistry, and recombinant DNAtechniques, within the skill of the art. The term AP, Aspergillus AP asfound herein is meant to refer to Aspergillus saccharolyticus.

Amino Acids and Nucleic Acids

Throughout the description and claims the three letter code for naturalamino acids are used. Where the L or D form has not been specified it isto be understood that the amino acid in question has the natural L form,cf. Pure & Appl. Chem. Vol. (56(5) pp 595-624 (1984) or the D form, sothat the peptides formed may be constituted of amino acids of L form, Dform, or a sequence of mixed L forms and D forms.

Where nothing is specified it is to be understood that the C-terminalamino acid of a polypeptide of the invention exists as the freecarboxylic acid, this may also be specified as “—OH”. The N-terminalamino acid of a polypeptide comprise a free amino-group, this may alsobe specified as “H-”.

Where nothing else is specified amino acid can be selected from anyamino acid, whether naturally occurring or not, such as alfa aminoacids, beta amino acids, and/or gamma amino acids. Accordingly, thegroup comprises but are not limited to: Ala, Val, Leu, Ile, Pro, Phe,Trp, Met, Gly, Ser, Thr, Cys, Tyr, Asn, Gln, Asp, Glu, Lys, Arg, H is,Aib, Nal, Sar, Orn, Lysine analogues DAP and DAPA.

Nucleic acid is meant to encompass DNA and RNA as well as derivativesthereof such as peptide nucleic acids (PNA) or locked nucleic acids(LNA) throughout the description.

Gene product refers to any transcriptional or translational product of agene. A transcriptional product comprises any RNA-species, which istranscribed from the specific gene, such as pre-RNA, mRNA, tRNA, miRNA,spliced and nonspliced RNA. Thus, a transcriptional gene product of thepresent invention comprises any RNA-species encoded by or comprising asequence selected from any β-glucosidase gene. For example, atranscriptional gene product of the present invention comprises anyRNA-species encoded by or comprising a sequence selected from any of SEQID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, or 12. The transcript may be bound byRNA-binding proteins and, thus, packaged into a ribonucleoprotein (RNP),for example an mRNP molecule.

A translational gene product of the present invention comprises anypeptide or polypeptide encoded by the gene or a fragment thereof. Thus,a “polypeptide encoded by a gene of the present invention” is comprisedin the terms “gene product”, or “translational gene product”. Atranslational gene product of the present invention comprises anypolypeptide-species encoded by a sequence selected from anyβ-glucosidase. For example, a gene product or translational gene productof the present invention comprises any polypeptide-species encoded by asequence selected from any of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, orthe complement thereof or part thereof or any sequence which is at least70%, such as at least 80%, for example at least 90% identical to any ofsaid sequences or part thereof.

Fragments or parts of a polypeptide or polynucleotide refers to afragment, piece, or sub-region of a nucleic acid or protein moleculewhose sequence is disclosed herein, such that the fragment comprising 5,10, 15, 20 or more amino adds, or 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60 or morenucleotides that are contiguous in the parent protein or nucleic acidcompound. When referring to a nucleic acid sequence, “fragment thereof”or “part thereof” refers to 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60 or more contiguousnucleotides, derived from the parent nucleic acid sequence, and also,owing to the genetic code, to the complementary sequence. For example,if the fragment entails the sequence 5′-AGCTAG-3′, then “fragmentthereof” would also include the complementary sequence, 3′-TCGATC-5′.Thus, the terms “fragment thereof” or “part thereof” as used herein inrelation to an amino acid sequence refers to any portion of the givenamino acid sequence which has the same activity as the complete aminoacid sequence. Fragments will suitably comprise at least 30 andpreferably at least 35 consecutive amino acids from the basic sequence.Fragments or parts of the polypeptide include deletion mutants andpolypeptides where small regions of the polypeptides are joinedtogether. The fragments should contain an epitope, and preferablycontain at least one antigenic region.

The terms “fragment thereof” or “part thereof” as used herein inrelation to a nucleic acid or polynucleotide sequence refers to anyportion of the given polynucleotide sequence which serves a relevantpurpose. In an oligonucleotide primer or probe comprising a fragment orpart of a given basic sequence, the fragment or part should compriseenough nucleotides to support specific binding of the oligonucleotideprimer or probe to its target. Such fragments typically comprise orconsist of at least 5 nucleotides, such as at least 10, 15, or at least20 consecutive nucleotides. With respect to a nucleic acid sequenceencoding a polypeptide, wherein the nucleic acid sequence comprises orconsists of a fragment or part of a basic nucleic acid, the fragment orpart should comprise or consist of a nucleic acid sequence, whichencodes a polypeptide with an activity which corresponds to the activityof the basic protein. Such fragments or parts will typically comprise atleast 15, preferably at least 30 and more preferably at least 60consecutive bases from the basic sequence.

Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or thenon-edible parts of plants. It is a type of biofuel produced fromlignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass ofplants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicelluloseand lignin.

Beta-glucosidase is defined herein as a beta-D-glucoside glycohydrolase(E.C. 3.2.1.21) which catalyses the hydrolysis of terminal non-reducingbeta-D-glucose residues with release of beta-D-glucose.

Extract is used herein for any extraction of a microorganism and/or hostcell of the present invention. The extract preferably comprise apolypeptide and/or polynucleotide of the present invention. The extractmay be prepared by opening the cells by lysis or chemical shear, andextracting the desired components in a suitable buffer.

Broth is used herein to describe a medium, which has been used for theculturing of a microorganism and/or host cell of the present invention.The broth is preferably a liquid culture broth, and the broth preferablycomprise metablolites and/or other secreted components of the culturedmicroorganism and/or host cell, for example polypeptides of the presentinvention.

Lignocellulosic Material

The present invention refers to a newly identified strain ofAspergillus, strain AP, Aspergillus saccharolyticus, and the polypeptideof the present invention harbouring polypeptides that have improvedqualities in the conversion or degradation of lignocellulosic material.Thus, the invention relates to the newly discovered strain, extracts,broths and polypeptides isolated from the strain, such as BGL1-4, thatcan be used in the conversion or degradation of lignocellulosicmaterial. The invention also provides methods for degradation and/orconversion of lignocellulosic material. The origin of thelignocellulosic material of the present invention is preferably biomassin the form of low-cost by-products from gardening, agriculture,forestry, the timber industry and the like; thus, for example, materialssuch as straw, maize stems, forestry waste (log slash, bark, smallbranches, twigs and the like), sawdust and wood-chips are all materialswhich can be degraded or converted to lower order sugars, such asmonosaccharide sugars according to the present invention. Thus,according to the present invention the lignocellulosic material may beobtained from agricultural residues such as straw, maize stems, cornfibers and husk, forestry waste such as sawdust and/or wood-chips,and/or from energy crops such as willow, yellow poplar and/or switchgrass. Thus, the lignocellulosic material may be obtained from forexample, but not limited to, straw, maize stems, corn fibers, husk,sawdust, wood-chips, willow, yellow poplar and/or switch grass. Acellulosic material to be used in accordance with the present inventionis any available carbon source such as for example biomass, includingplant biomass and complex plant biomass, such as e.g. plant cell wallconstituents. The polypeptide, recombinant host cells, and/ormicroorganisms (Aspergillus saccharolyticus) of the present invention ispreferably capable of degrading one or more plant cell wall constituentsselected from the group consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin,and lignin. Accordingly, the carbon source preferably comprises at leastone of, preferably at least two of, more preferably at least three of,yet more preferably all of the plant cell wall constituents selectedfrom the group consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, andlignin. Thus, the microorganism is preferably capable of degrading atleast one or more selected from the group consisting of cellulose,hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin, more preferably fromthe group consisting of cellobiose and cellodextrin. More preferably,the microorganism of the present invention, extracts thereof, and/or thepolypeptide of the present invention is at least capable of degradingIcellobiose. In another preferred embodiment, the microorganism of thepresent invention, extracts thereof, and/or the polypeptide of thepresent invention is capable of degrading cellodextrin.

Cellulose is the structural component of the primary cell wall of greenplants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteriasecrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most common organiccompound on Earth. About 33 percent of all plant matter is cellulose(the cellulose content of cotton is 90 percent and that of wood is 40-50percent). Cellulose is a polysaccharide consisting essentially ofpolymerized glucose monomer units, in general cellulose is a linearchain of D-glucose monomer units linked by β(1→4) bonds. The cellulosepolysaccharide preferably consists of in the range of 300 to 15,000, forexample in the range of 500 to 10,000 glucose monomer units. The enzymesutilized to cleave the glycosidic linkage in cellulose are glycosidehydrolases including endo-acting cellulases (glucanases) and exo-actingglucosidases. Such enzymes are usually secreted as part of multienzymecomplexes that may include dockerins and cellulose binding modules.

Cellobiose is a disaccharide with the formula [HOCH₂CHO(CHOH)₃]₂O. Themolecule is derived from the condensation of two glucose moleculeslinked in a β(1→4) bond.

Cellodextrin is classified by its degree of polymerization (DP) whichindicates the number of linked glucose monomers it contains. Eachglucose monomer is linked via a beta-1,4 glycosidic bond. The mostcommon cellodextrins are

cellobiose (DP=2)

cellotriose (DP=3)

cellotetrose (DP=4)

cellopentose (DP=5)

cellohexose (DP=6)

Thus, in a preferred embodiment the beta-glucosidase of the presentinvention is capable of degrading or converting a lignocellulosicmaterial, preferably cellobiose and/or cellodextrin, recovering degradedlignocellulosic material in the form of glucose monomers.

Hemicellulose is the term used to denote non-cellulosic polysaccharidesassociated with cellulose in plant tissues. Hemicellulose frequentlyconstitutes about 20-35% w/w of lignocellulosic materials, and themajority of hemicelluloses consists predominantly of polymers based onpentose (five-carbon) sugar units, such as D-xylose and D-arabinoseunits, although more minor proportions of hexose (six-carbon) sugarunits, such as D-glucose and D-mannose units, are generally alsopresent.

Lignin, which is a complex, cross-linked polymer based on variouslysubstituted p-hydroxyphenylpropane units, generally constitutes about10-30% w/w of lignocellulosic materials. It is believed that ligninfunctions as a physical barrier to the direct bioconversion (e.g. byfermenting microorganisms) of cellulose and hemicellulose inlignocellulosic materials which have not been subjected to some kind ofpre-treatment process (which may very suitably be a wet-oxidativeprocess as described in relation to the present invention) to disruptthe structure of lignocellulose.

To minimise the production cost of generating a sugar platform in thebiorefinery for biofuel and chemicals produced from biomass it isimportant to use biomass in the form of low-cost by-products fromgardening such as garden refuse, waste materials from agriculture,forestry, the timber industry and the like. Thus, processes of theinvention are applicable to any kind of cellulose-containinglignocellulosic materials. Relevant materials thus include wooden ornon-wooden plant material in the form of stem, stalk, shrub, foliage,bark, root, shell, pod, nut, husk, fibre, vine, straw, hay, grass,bamboo or reed, singularly or in a mixture.

Preferred lignocellulosic materials in the context of the inventioninclude but are not limited to wood (both softwood and hardwood), straw,corn stovers and so-called hulls. Wood employed in the context of theinvention is generally heartwood (duramen) and/or outer wood (secondaryxylem) derived from trunks, stems and/or branches of deciduous orevergreen trees or shrubs. Wood from the roots of such trees or shrubsmay also be of value.

Useful sources of wood include numerous species of various genera ofconiferous and broad-leaved trees/shrubs. Among conifers may bementioned the following: Pinaceae, including pines (Pinus spp., such asPinus sylvestris), silver firs (Abies spp., such as Abies alba), spruces(Picea spp., such as Picea abies), larches (Larix and Pseudolarix spp.,such as Larix decidua and L. kaempferi) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsugamenziesii). Among broadleaves may be mentioned the following:Betulaceae, including birches (Betula spp., such as Betula pendufa); andFagaceae, including beeches (Fagus spp., such as Fagus sylvatica) andoaks (Quercus spp., such as Quercus robur).

Useful sources of straw include in particular cereals (cereal grasses),i.e. gramineous plants which yield edible grain or seed. Straw from, forexample, oat (Avena spp., such as A. saliva), barley (Hordeum spp., suchas H. vulgare), wheat (Triticum spp., including T. durum), rye (Secalcereale), rice (Oryza spp.), millet (e.g. species of Digitaria, Panicum,Paspalum, Pennisetum or Setana), sorghum (Sorghum spp., including S.bicolor var. durra (also referred to as “durra”) and milo), buckwheat(Fagopyrum spp., such as F. esculentum) and maize (also referred to ascorn (Zea mays), including sweetcorn] is well suited for treatmentaccording to the process of the invention.

As employed herein, the term “hull” generally denotes the outercovering, rind, shell, pod or husk of any fruit or seed, but the term asemployed herein also embraces, for example, the outer covering of an earof maize. Relevant hulls include hulls selected among the following:hulls from oat (Avena spp., such as A. saliva), barley (Hordeum spp.,such as H. vulgare), wheat (Triticum spp., including T. durum), rye(Secal cereale), rice (Oryza spp.), millet (e.g. species of Digiftaa,Panicum, Paspalum, Pennisetum or Setaria), sorghum (Sorghum spp.,including S. bicolor var. durra and milo), buckwheat (Fagopyrum spp.,such as F. esculentum), maize [also known as corn (Zea mays), includingsweetcorn], corn cob, rape-seed (from Brassica spp., such as B. napus,B. napus subsp. rapifera or B. napus subsp. oleifera), cotton-seed (fromGossypium spp., such as G. heraceum), almond (Prunus dulcis, includingboth sweet and bitter almond) and sunflower seed (Helianthus spp., suchas H. annuus).

Hulls of cereals, including not only those mentioned among the above,but also hulls of cereals other than those mentioned among the above,are generally of interest in the context of the invention, and preferredhulls, such as oat hulls and barley hulls, belong to this category. Inthis connection it may be mentioned by way of example that oat hulls areoften available in large quantities at low cost as a by-product ofoat-processing procedures for the production of oatmeal, porridge oats,rolled oats and the like; thus, a total of around 75,000 tons of oathulls is produced per year as a by-product of oat-processing in Denmark,Norway and Sweden together with northern Germany.

Other types of hulls of relevance in relation to processes of theinvention include, for example, palm shells, peanut shells, coconutshells, other types of nut shells, and coconut husk.

It should be noted that the native physical form, bulk and/or dimensionsof lignocellulosic materials such as wood, straw, hay and the like willgenerally necessitate, or at least make it desirable, to carry outcomminution of the material (e.g. by milling, abrading, grinding,crushing, chopping, chipping or the like) to some extent in order toobtain particles, pieces, fibres, strands, wafers, flakes or the like ofmaterial of sufficiently small size and/or sufficiently high surfacearea to mass ratio to enable degradation of the material to be performedsatisfactorily. In the case of wood, material of suitable dimensionswill often be available as a waste product in the form of sawdust, woodchips, wood flakes, twigs and the like from sawmills, forestry and othercommercial sources.

In contrast, numerous types of hulls, e.g. cereal grain or seed hulls ingeneral, including oat hulls as employed in the working examplesreported herein, have in their native form sufficiently small dimensionsand a sufficiently high surface area to mass ratio to enable them to beused directly, without prior comminution, as lignocellulosic materialsin a process according to the present invention.

According to the present invention, a microorganism, an extract or brothfrom the microorganism, or a polypeptide is considered capable ofdegrading cellulose and/or cellodextrins, such as cellobiose, when it iscapable of degrading at least 50%, preferably at least 60%, morepreferably at least 70%, yet more preferably at least 80%, yet morepreferably at least 90% of provided cellulose and/or cellodextrins, suchas cellobiose to monomers or oligomers of glucose, wherein oligomers ofglucose consists of in the range of 2 to 8 glucosidic monomers. Themicroorganism may be capable of further degrading glucose or oligomersof glucose and for example use said glucose as carbon source for growthand/or acid or acid derivative synthesis.

Hemicellulose may comprise monosaccharide units selected from the groupconsisting of glucose, xylose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose andarabinose, more preferably hemicellulose comprises at least glucose andxylose. In general the hemicellulose polysaccharide consists of in therange of 100 to 300, such as 150 to 250 monosaccharide monomer units.

According to the present invention, a microorganism, an extract or brothfrom the microorganism, or a polypeptide is considered capable ofdegrading hemicellulose, when it is capable of degrading at least 50%,preferably at least 60%, more preferably at least 70%, yet morepreferably at least 80%, yet more preferably at least 90% of providedhemicellulose to monosaccharide monomers or oligosaccharides, whereinoligosaccahrides consists of in the range of 2 to 8 monosaccharidemonomers. The nature of said monosaccharide monomers depend on theparticular hemicellulose, but may in general be selected from the groupconsisting of glucose, xylose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose andarabinose. The microorganism may be capable of further degrading saidmonosaccharides or oligosaccharides and for example use saidmonosaccharides or oligosaccharides as carbon source for growth and/oracid or acid derivative synthesis. Thus, it is preferred that inaddition to the capability of degrading hemicellulose, the geneticallymodified microorganisms of the present invention also are capable ofdegrading one or more selected from the group consisting of glucose,xylose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose and arabinose, in particular it ispreferred that the genetically modified microorganisms of the presentinvention at least are capable of further degrading glucose and xyloseand for example use said monosaccharide as carbon source for growthand/or acid or acid derivative synthesis.

Pectin is a polysaccharide consisting of different monosaccharidemonomer units, wherein at least some the monosaccharides may be sugaracids. Thus, pectin may be considered a heteropolysaccharide.Preferably, pectin according to the present invention may comprisemonosaccharide units selected from the group consisting of galacturonicacid, rhamnose, xylose, galactose and arabinose, more preferably pectincomprises at least galacturonic acid and rhamnose. The galacturonic acidmay be esterified, for example with a short alkyl-, preferablymethyl-group. The galacturonic acid may also be present in the form of asalt, with any useful cation, for example sodium, potassium or calcium.In general pectin has a size of in the range of 60 to 130,000 g/mol.

According to the present invention, a microorganism, an extract from themicroorganism, or a polypeptide is considered capable of degradingpectin, when it is capable of degrading at least 50%, preferably atleast 60%, more preferably at least 70%, yet more preferably at least80%, yet more preferably at least 90% of provided pectin tomonosaccharides or oligosaccharides, wherein oligosaccharides consistsof in the range of 2 to 8 monosaccharides. The monosaccharides may forexample be sugars, sugar acids or esters or salts thereof. Thus, themonosaccharides may for example be selected from the group consisting ofgalacturonic acid, rhamnose, xylose, galactose and arabinose. Themicroorganism may be capable of further degrading the monosaccharidesand/or oligosaccharides and for example use said monosaccharides and/oroligosaccharides as carbon source for growth and/or acid or acidderivative synthesis.

Lignin is a large polymer which is abundant in plant biomass and it isan integral part of the cell walls of plants. Lignins are very diversein structure and according to the present invention lignin may be anynaturally occurring lignin. Preferably, lignin comprises one or moredifferent monomer units (also referred to as monolignol) selected fromthe group consisting of p-coumaryl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol, sinapylalcohol and any of the aforementioned substituted with one or more loweralkoxy, preferably methoxy. Preferably, said monomer units areincorporated into the lignin polymer in the form of phenylpropanoidp-hydroxyphenyl, guaiacyl, syringal and any of the aforementionedsubstituted with one or more lower alkoxy, preferably methoxy,respectively. In addition to the aforementioned monomer units, ligninmay comprise other monolignols. Lignin may be covalently linked tohemicellulose and/or cellulose. In particular, lignin may be covalentlybonded to hemicellulose via infrequent linkages to the hemicellulosechains. Alternatively, lignin may be associated with hemicelluloseand/or cellulose for example through hydrogen bonding. A complex(covalently bound and/or associated by means of hydrogen bonding) oflignin, hemicellulose and cellulose is also referred to aslignocellulosic complexes herein.

According to the present invention, a microorganism or a polypeptide isconsidered capable of degrading lignin, when it is capable of degradingat least 40%, preferably at least 50%, more preferably at least 60%, yetmore preferably at least 65%, for example at least 70%, such as at least80% of provided lignin to mono components derived from lignins or tooligomers of in the range of 2 to 8 monolignols. The microorganism maybe capable of further degrading said monolignols or said oligomers andfor example use said monolignols as carbon source for growth and/or acidor acid derivative synthesis.

The carbon source preferably comprises at least one, preferably at leasttwo, more preferably at least three, even more preferably at least four,for example all of the plant cell wall constituents selected from thegroup consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrinand pectin. Thus, the microorganism is preferably capable of degradingat least one or more selected from the group consisting of cellulose,hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin, more preferably fromthe group consisting of cellobiose and cellodextrin. More preferably,the microorganism of the present invention, extracts thereof,polypeptide of the present invention is at least capable of degradingcellobiose. In another preferred embodiment, the microorganism of thepresent invention, extracts thereof, polypeptide of the presentinvention is capable of degrading cellodextrin. Aforementioned plantcell wall constituents may be provided in a purified form or a partlypurified form, however, frequently they will be provided in the form ofplant biomass (see below).

In addition to the plant cell wall constituents the carbon source maycomprise other components, in particular it is comprised within thescope of the present invention that the carbon source may compriseadditional polysaccharides, such as e.g. starch. The carbon source mayalso comprise chitin. Starch is a polysaccharide consisting essentiallyof polymerized glucose monomer units. Starch is in general made up by amixture of amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is a polymer of glucoselinked mainly by α(1→4) bonds and amylopectin is a branched polymer ofglucose linked in a linear way with α(1→4) bonds and with branchingtaking place with α(1→6) bonds occurring approximately at every 24 to 30glucose units.

In one embodiment of the invention where the carbon source furthercomprises a polysaccharide as e.g. starch, the microorganism is capableof degrading at least 50%, preferably at least 60%, more preferably atleast 70%, yet more preferably at least 80%, yet more preferably atleast 90% of provided polysaccharide as e.g. starch to monomers oroligomers of glucose, wherein oligomers of glucose consists of in therange of 2 to 8 glucosidic monomers. The microorganism may be capable offurther degrading glucose or oligomers of glucose and for example usesaid glucose as carbon source for growth and/or acid or acid derivativesynthesis.

In a very preferred embodiment of the invention the carbon source is acomplex carbon source, such as a carbon source comprising complex plantmaterial, wherein said complex plant material may be plant biomass. Inparticular crude plant biomass is considered a complex plant materialaccording to the present invention. In particular for industrial scaleproduction of microbial oil for example for preparing bioethanol it ispreferred that the carbon source is plant biomass. In this way, themethods of the present invention may serve to substitute conventionaloil refineries by producing similar or identical products on the basisof plant biomass in stead of oil. Said plant biomass is readilyavailable in the form of agricultural or forestry wastes. In generalagricultural or forestry wastes comprise or more preferably even consistmainly of lignocellulosic complexes and starch. Thus, the carbon sourcemay be plant biomass for example wood residues, paper waste,agricultural residues or energy crops, which all comprises one or moreplant cell wall constituents. Wood residues may for example be forestrywaste, saw mill waste and/or paper mill waste. Paper waste may be anydiscarded paper, such as discarded paper collected from householdsand/or businesses, such as industry. Agricultural residues may be anyplant material obtained as a product of agriculture, and thusagricultural residues may for example be any cultivated plant or partsthereof. Preferably, agricultural residues is agricultural waste, suchas waste from cereal crops, for example stalks, straw and/or leaves fromcereal crops, wherein cereal crops for example may be selected from thegroup consisting of barley, wheat, millet, maize, rice, sorghum, oats,rye, triticale, buckwheat, fonio and quinoa. Agricultural waste may alsobe bagasse, for example bagasse from sugar production, such as sugarcane bagasse. Agricultural waste may also be waste from the productionof vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, palm oil, peanut oil, rape seedoil, olive oil, grape seed oil or sunflower oil, preferably waste fromproduction of palm oil. Waste from oil production, such as palm oilproduction may include fibers, kernel shells and/or oil mill effluent.Energy crops includes any plant grown for exploitation of its energycontent and are thus typically densely planted, high yielding cropspecies. Non-limiting examples include miscanthus, salix, populus,maize, sudangrass, millet, or white sweet-clover. The carbon source mayalso be other organic waste, for example organic waste collected fromhouse holds and/or industry. The carbon source may also be a mixture ofone or more of the aforementioned.

In one embodiment it is preferred that the carbon source is not a plantproduct, which may be used for food or feed production. Preferably, thecarbon source is not a plant product which may be used for foodproduction.

The degradation of lignocellulosic complexes has been described forexample in Kirk, T. K. and Cullen, D. in: Environmentally FriendlyTechnologies for the Pulp and Paper Industry; Young, R. A. and Akthar,M. eds. (1998) John Wiley & Sons ISBN 0-471-15770-8. Plant cell wallsare a composite material having constituent parts for example cellulose,hemicellulose, lignin and pectin. With the exception of lignin thesematerials are polymerized carbohydrates with either C6 or C5-sugars orsugar acids as monomeric units. The long chains are branched at specificpositions of the chains of the polymer.

The entire structure is rendered compact and semi-crystalline bycrosslinking of the different polymer structures and by hydrogen-bondsgiving the plant cell not only a turgor-resistant cell wall but also abarrier of defense against plant pathogens.

For any given process, such as an industrial process which uses aheterogeneous plant biomass as carbon source for the growth of themicroorganism it is preferred that the enzymatic profile of the organismpermits the degradation of a maximum of the available energy sourcespresent in the given biomass. Thus, the preferred microorganism to beemployed with the methods according to the present invention preferablyare able to grow equally well on all major plant biomass constituentssuch as cellulose, hemi-cellulose, pectin, and lignin

In one embodiment the carbon source is pretreated. This is in particularrelevant when the carbon source is a complex plant material, such as anyof the complex plant materials described herein above.

The carbon source, such as the complex plant material can be pretreated.Such pretreatments could be treatment with cellular extracts. It couldbe treatment with chemicals for example acids, alkali or oxygen, such asacid or alkali treatment of wood for wood saccharification. Thepretreatment may also be a heat treatment. Said heat treatment may beperformed alone (e.g. as in wood distillation) or in combination withacid, alkali and oxygen treatment. Such methods are for example used inthe paper industry to separate cellulose from other wood constituents.

In one embodiment of the invention the carbon source is pretreated withenzymes capable of degrading lignocellulosic material extracted orpurified from microorganisms, for example microorganisms likeChrysosporium, Trichoderma, Aspergillus, Fusarium and Pencillium.Preferably a complex carbon source containing one or more of cellulose,cellobiose, cellodextrin and/or pectin is pretreated with a multi-enzymeproduct comprising enzymes e.g. selected from hemicellulases andcellulases, prepared as described by Magnuson et al in WO 2008/008793,which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Polypeptide

The present invention relates to polypeptides with beta-glucosidaseactivity. Thus, the polypeptides provided herein are capable ofhydrolyzing a glycosidic linkage in a polysaccharide. In specificembodiment, the polypeptide or a biologically active fragment thereof isencoded by a gene selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2,5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12.

Thus the present invention relates in one aspect to an isolatedpolypeptide comprising

-   -   a. an amino acid sequence consisting of SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or        13,    -   b. a biologically active sequence variant of SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7,        10, or 13, wherein the variant has at least 92% sequence        identity to said SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13, or    -   c. a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive        amino acids of any of a) through b), wherein said fragment is a        fragment of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13.

In a preferred embodiment the polypeptide originates from or is purifiedfrom Aspergillus saccharolyticus, characterised as deposit no.: CBS127449^(T).

The polypeptide of the invention has beta-glucosidase activity, andthus, the polypeptide of the invention is capable of hydrolyzing a β1-4glucose-glucose linkage. Accordingly, the isolated polypeptide iscapable of hydrolyzing cellobiose and/or other cellodextrins, such ascellotriose (DP=3), cellotetrose (DP=4), cellopentose (DP=5), orcellohexose (DP=6). The cellobiose and/or cellodextrins is preferablyobtained from a lignocellulosic material originating from agriculturalresidues such as straw, maize stems, corn fibers and husk, forestrywaste such as sawdust and/or wood-chips, and/or from energy crops suchas willow, yellow poplar and/or switch grass.

The catalytic activity of the betaglucosidase (BGL) polypeptides of thepresent invention is higher, and more robost in terms ofthermostability, pH activity, and pH stability than conventional BGLenzymes. For example, in one embodiment, a BGL polypeptide of theinvention, such as the BGL1 polypeptide, has a specific activity, Vmax,of at least 20, such as at least 30, for example at least 40, forexample at least 50, such as at least 60 U/mg with cellobiose assubstrate in hydrolysis. Preferably, the BGL polypeptide has a specificactivity, Vmax, of at least 40, such as at least 45 U/mg with cellobioseas substrate in hydrolysis.

The half-life of the beta-glucosidase activity at 60° C. of a BGLpolypeptide of the invention, such as the BGL1 polypeptide, ispreferably at least 100 minutes, such as at least 150, such as at least180, or at least 190, such as at least 200 minutes. In a preferredembodiment, the half-life of the beta-glucosidase activity at 60° C. isat least 200 minutes, such as at least 300 minutes, for example at least400 minutes, such as at least 430, 440, or at least 450 minutes.

In one embodiment, at least 30%, such as at least 40, 50, 60, such as atleast 70% of the beta-glucosidase activity of said polypeptide remainsafter 4 hours of incubation at 60° C. In a more preferred embodiment, atleast 60%, such as at least 65% of the beta-glucosidase activity of saidpolypeptide remains after 4 hours of incubation at 60° C.

The polypeptide of the present invention may be a fragment of SEQ ID NO:3, 7, 10, 13, wherein the polypeptide fragment is devoid of the signalpeptide, wherein said polypeptide for example for BGL1 is SEQ ID NO: 4.The position of the signal peptides for BGL1-4 are indicated in thesequences herein below.

Biologically Active Variant of Polypeptides

A biologically active variant of a polypeptide of a given sequencewithin the present invention is a polypeptide sharing at least somesequence identity with the given sequence and which shares at least onefunction. For enzymes, that function is preferably the capability tocatalyse the reaction catalysed by the particular enzyme.

Evolutionary conservation between polypeptides of different closelyrelated species, e.g. assessed by sequence alignment, can also be usedto pinpoint the degree of evolutionary pressure on individual residues.Preferably, polypeptide sequences from at least 2, preferably at least3, more preferably at least four different species where the function ofthe polypeptide is conserved are compared, for example from differentspecies of fungi. Conserved residues are more likely to representessential amino acids that cannot easily be substituted than residuesthat change between species. For example, such an alignment may beperformed using ClustalW from EMBL-EBI. It is evident from the abovethat a reasonable number of modifications or alterations of apolypeptide sequence does not interfere with the activity of a givenpolypeptide. Thus, preferably, functional homologues of a givenpolypeptide comprise all residues, which are conserved between at least4, such as at least 3, for example at least 2 different species.Functional homologues may thus comprise one or more amino acidsubstitutions at residues, which are not conserved between at least 4,such as at least 3, for example at least 2 different species.

Functional homologues may also be identified by DNA shuffling such asfor example described in WO 95/22625, Stemmer, W. and Crameri: A DNAMutagenesis by Random Fragmentation and Reassembly, and be prepared byconventional molecular biology techniques.

Biologically active as described herein means that the polypeptide,variant or fragment thereof is able to degrade or convertlignocellulosic material, preferably cellobiose, into monomeric glucoseunits. The ability to degrade or convert lignocellulosic material isdetermined in a beta-glucosidase assay. In this work specific activityis defined as units per amount of total protein.

Biologically active variants may also be defined with reference to thebiological assays described in the examples. A preferred biologicalactivity is the ability of the polypeptide to act as a beta-glucosidase,being capable of hydrolysing a glycosidic linkage in a polysaccharide,see elsewhere herein.

As used herein “variant” refers to polypeptides or proteins which arehomologous to a polypeptide, for example beta-glucosidase/BGL-genes(such as BGL1, SEQ ID NO.: 3, BCL2: SEQ ID NO: 7, BGL3, SEQ ID NO: 10,and BGL4, SEQ ID NO: 13), but which differs from the base sequence fromwhich they are derived in that one or more amino acids within thesequence are substituted for other amino acids. Amino acid substitutionsmay be regarded as “conservative” where an amino acid is replaced with adifferent amino acid with broadly similar properties. Non-conservativesubstitutions are where amino acids are replaced with amino acids of adifferent type. Broadly speaking, fewer non-conservative substitutionswill be possible without altering the biological activity of thepolypeptide.

A person skilled in the art will know how to make and assess‘conservative’ amino acid substitutions, by which one amino acid issubstituted for another with one or more shared chemical and/or physicalcharacteristics. Conservative amino acid substitutions are less likelyto affect the functionality of the protein. Amino acids may be groupedaccording to shared characteristics. A conservative amino acidsubstitution is a substitution of one amino acid within a predeterminedgroup of amino acids for another amino acid within the same group,wherein the amino acids within a predetermined groups exhibit similar orsubstantially similar characteristics.

Conservative amino acid substitutions refer to the interchangeability ofresidues having similar side chains. For example, a group of amino acidshaving aliphatic side chains is glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, andisoleucine; a group of amino acids having aliphatic-hydroxyl side chainsis serine and threonine, a group of amino acids having amide-containingside chains is asparagine and glutamine; a group of amino acids havingaromatic side chains is phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan; a groupof amino acids having basic side chains is lysine, arginine, andhistidine; and a group of amino acids having sulfur-containing sidechains is cysteine and methionine. Preferred conservative amino acidssubstitution groups are: valine-leucine-isoleucine,phenylalanine-tyrosine, lysine-arginine, alanine-valine, andasparagine-glutamine.

Within the meaning of the term “conservative amino acid substitution” asapplied herein, one amino acid may be substituted for another within thegroups of amino acids indicated herein below:

Lower Levels of Similarity:

Polarity:

-   i) Amino acids having polar side chains (Asp, Glu, Lys, Arg, His,    Asn, Gln, Ser, Thr, Tyr, and Cys,)-   ii) Amino acids having non-polar side chains (Gly, Ala, Val, Leu,    Ile, Phe, Trp, Pro, and Met)    Hydrophilic or Hydrophobic:-   iii) Hydrophobic amino acids (Ala, Cys, Gly, Ile, Leu, Met, Phe,    Pro, Trp, Tyr, Val)-   iv) Hydrophilic amino acids (Arg, Ser, Thr, Asn, Asp, Gln, Glu, H    is, Lys)    Charges:-   v) Neutral amino acids (Ala, Asn, Cys, Gln, Gly, Ile, Leu, Met, Phe,    Pro, Ser, Thr, Trp, Tyr, Val)-   vi) Basic amino acids (Arg, His, Lys)-   vii) Acidic amino acids (Asp, Glu)    High Level of Similarity:-   viii) Acidic amino acids and their amides (Gln, Asn, Glu, Asp)-   ix) Amino acids having aliphatic side chains (Gly, Ala Val, Leu,    Ile)-   x) Amino acids having aromatic side chains (Phe, Tyr, Trp)-   xi) Amino acids having basic side chains (Lys, Arg, His)-   xii) Amino acids having hydroxy side chains (Ser, Thr)-   xiii) Amino acids having sulphor-containing side chains (Cys, Met).

Substitutions within the following groups (‘strong’ conservation group)are to be regarded as conservative substitutions within the meaning ofthe present invention

-   -   —STA, NEQK, NHQK, NDEQ, QHRK, MILV, MILF, HY, FYW.

Substitutions within the following groups (‘weak’ conservation group)are to be regarded as semi-conservative substitutions within the meaningof the present invention

-   -   CSA, ATV, SAG, STNK, STPA, SGND, SNDEQK, NDEQHK, NEQHRK, VLIM,        HFY.

Accordingly, a variant or a fragment thereof according to the inventionmay comprise, within the same variant of the sequence or fragmentsthereof, or among different variants of the sequence or fragmentsthereof, at least one substitution, such as a plurality of substitutionsintroduced independently of one another.

It is clear from the above outline that the same variant or fragmentthereof may comprise more than one conservative amino acid substitutionfrom more than one group of conservative amino acids as defined hereinabove.

Both standard and non standard amino acid residues described herein canbe in the “D” or or “L” isomeric form.

It is contemplated that a functional equivalent according to theinvention may comprise any amino acid including non-standard aminoacids. In preferred embodiments a functional equivalent comprises onlystandard amino acids.

The standard and/or non-standard amino acids may be linked by peptidebonds or by non-peptide bonds. The term peptide also embracespost-translational modifications introduced by chemical orenzyme-catalyzed reactions, as are known in the art. Suchpost-translational modifications can be introduced prior topartitioning, if desired. Amino acids as specified herein willpreferentially be in the L-stereoisomeric form. Amino acid analogs canbe employed instead of the 20 naturally-occurring amino acids. Severalsuch analogs are known, including fluorophenylalanine, norleucine,azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, S-aminoethyl cysteine, 4-methyl tryptophanand the like.

Suitably variants of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13 are variants havingat least 73%, such as at least 74%, for example at least 75%, such as atleast 76%, such as at least 77%, for example at least 78%, such as atleast 79%, such as at least 80%, for example at least 81%, such as atleast 82%, such as at least 83%, for example at least 84%, such as atleast 85%, such as at least 86%, for example at least 87%, such as atleast 88%, such as at least 89%, for example at least 90%, such as atleast 91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity, such as at least 93%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 94% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 95% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 96% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 98% sequenceidentity, more preferably such as at least 99% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identity with any one of SEQ IDNo: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13 or fragments thereof, such as fragments of atleast 30 amino acids, for example any fragments of 30-300 amino acids or300-600, or 600-850 amino acids.

Suitably variants are variant(s) of SEQ ID NO: 4, which is a preferredfragment of SEQ ID NO: 3 are variants having at least 92% sequenceidentity, such as at least 93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g.at least 94% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 95%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 97% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 98% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least99% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequenceidentity with SEQ ID No: 4, or fragments thereof, such as fragments ofat least 30 amino acids, for example any fragments of 30-300 amino acidsor 300-600, or 600-850 amino acids.

Suitably variants are variant(s) of BGL1 are variants having at least91%, such as preferably at least 92% sequence identity, such as at least93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 94% sequenceidentity, more preferably such as at least 95% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity, more preferably such asat least 97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 98%sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 99% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identity with SEQID No: 3 or fragments thereof, such as fragments of at least 30 aminoacids, for example any fragments of 30-300 amino acids or 300-600, or600-850 amino acids. One suitable variant of BGL1 is a variant devoid ofthe signal peptide. Thus in one embodiment, the polypeptide of thepresent invention has at least 91%, such as preferably at least 92%sequence identity, such as at least 93% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 94% sequence identity, more preferably such asat least 95% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 96%sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 97% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 98% sequence identity, morepreferably such as at least 99% sequence identity, more preferably e.g.at least 99.5% sequence identity with amino acids 20-860 of SEQ ID No:3, which corresponds to SEQ ID NO: 4, or fragments thereof, such asfragments of at least 30 amino acids, for example any fragments of30-300 amino acids or 300-600, or 600-850 amino acids.

Suitably variants are variant(s) of BCL2 are variants having at least73%, such as preferably at least 74%, for example at least 75%, such asat least 76%, such as at least 77%, for example at least 78%, such as atleast 79%, such as at least 80%, for example at least 81%, such as atleast 82%, such as at least 83%, for example at least 84%, such as atleast 85%, such as at least 86%, for example at least 87%, such as atleast 88%, such as at least 89%, for example at least 90%, such as atleast 91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity, such as at least 93%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 94% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 95% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 96% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 98% sequenceidentity, more preferably such as at least 99% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identity with SEQ ID No: 7, orfragments thereof, such as fragments of at least 30 amino acids, forexample any fragments of 30-300 amino acids or 300-600, or 600-850 aminoacids. One suitable variant of BCL2 is a variant devoid of the signalpeptide. Thus in one embodiment, the polypeptide of the presentinvention has at least 73%, such as preferably at least 74%, for exampleat least 75%, such as at least 76%, such as at least 77%, for example atleast 78%, such as at least 79%, such as at least 80%, for example atleast 81%, such as at least 82%, such as at least 83%, for example atleast 84%, such as at least 85%, such as at least 86%, for example atleast 87%, such as at least 88%, such as at least 89%, for example atleast 90%, such as at least 91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity,such as at least 93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least94% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 95% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity, morepreferably such as at least 97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g.at least 98% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 99%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identitywith amino acids 21-866 of SEQ ID No: 7, or fragments thereof, such asfragments of at least 30 amino acids, for example any fragments of30-300 amino acids or 300-600, or 600-850 amino acids.

Suitably variants are variant(s) of BGL3 are variants having at least75%, such as preferably at least 76%, such as at least 77%, for exampleat least 78%, such as at least 79%, such as at least 80%, for example atleast 81%, such as at least 82%, such as at least 83%, for example atleast 84%, such as at least 85%, such as at least 86%, for example atleast 87%, such as at least 88%, such as at least 89%, for example atleast 90%, such as at least 91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity,such as at least 93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least94% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 95% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity, morepreferably such as at least 97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g.at least 98% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 99%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identitywith SEQ ID No: 10 or fragments thereof, such as fragments of at least30 amino acids, for example any fragments of 30-300 amino acids or300-600, or 600-850 amino acids. One suitable variant of BGL3 is avariant devoid of the signal peptide. Thus in one embodiment, thepolypeptide of the present invention has at least at least 75%, such aspreferably at least 76%, such as at least 77%, for example at least 78%,such as at least 79%, such as at least 80%, for example at least 81%,such as at least 82%, such as at least 83%, for example at least 84%,such as at least 85%, such as at least 86%, for example at least 87%,such as at least 88%, such as at least 89%, for example at least 90%,such as at least 91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity, such as atleast 93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 94% sequenceidentity, more preferably such as at least 95% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity, more preferably such asat least 97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 98%sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 99% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identity withamino acids 21-722 of SEQ ID No: 10 or fragments thereof, such asfragments of at least 30 amino acids, for example any fragments of30-300 amino acids or 300-600, or 600-850 amino acids.

Suitably variants are variant(s) of BGL4 are variants having at least78%, such as preferably at least 79%, such as at least 80%, for exampleat least 81%, such as at least 82%, such as at least 83%, for example atleast 84%, such as at least 85%, such as at least 86%, for example atleast 87%, such as at least 88%, such as at least 89%, for example atleast 90%, such as at least 91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity,such as at least 93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least94% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 95% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity, morepreferably such as at least 97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g.at least 98% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 99%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identitywith SEQ ID No: 13 or fragments thereof, such as fragments of at least30 amino acids, for example any fragments of 30-300 amino acids or300-600, or 600-850 amino acids. One suitable variant of BGL4 is avariant devoid of the signal peptide. Thus in one embodiment, thepolypeptide of the present invention has at least at least 78%, such aspreferably at least 79%, such as at least 80%, for example at least 81%,such as at least 82%, such as at least 83%, for example at least 84%,such as at least 85%, such as at least 86%, for example at least 87%,such as at least 88%, such as at least 89%, for example at least 90%,such as at least 91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity, such as atleast 93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 94% sequenceidentity, more preferably such as at least 95% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity, more preferably such asat least 97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 98%sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 99% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identity withamino acids 20-766 of SEQ ID No: 13 or fragments thereof, such asfragments of at least 30 amino acids, for example any fragments of30-300 amino acids or 300-600, or 600-850 amino acids.

The polypeptide fragment according to the invention is a fragment,wherein the fragment has a stretch of at least 30 consecutive aminoacids and contains less than 860 amino acids residues of SEQ ID NO: 3,or at least 30 consecutive amino acids and less than 866 amino acidsresidues of SEQ ID NO: 7, or at least 30 consecutive amino acids andless than 722 amino acids residues of SEQ ID NO: 10, or at least 30consecutive amino acids and less than 766 amino acids residues of SEQ IDNO: 13. So in general, a polypeptide fragment according to the inventionis a fragment, wherein the fragment has a stretch of at least 30consecutive amino acids and contains less than 800 consecutive aminoacid residues of any one of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13, such as lessthan 800 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 795consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 790 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 785 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 780 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than770 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 760 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 750 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 745 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 740 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 735consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 730 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 725 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 720 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 715consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 390 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 710 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 705 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than700 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 690 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 685 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 680 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 675 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 670consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 650 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 645 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 640 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 635consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 630 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 625 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 620 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 615consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 610 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 605 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 600 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 590consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 585 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 580 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 575 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 570consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 565 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 560 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 555 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than550 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 545 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 540 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 535 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 530 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 525consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 520 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 515 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 490 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than485 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 480 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 475 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 470 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 465 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 460consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 455 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 450 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 445 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than440 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 435 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 430 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 425 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 420 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 415consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 410 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 405 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 400 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 410consecutive amino acid residues of, such as less than 400 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 395 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 390 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 385 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 380consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 370 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 360 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 350 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 345consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 340 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 335 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 330 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 325consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 300 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 295 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 290 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 285consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 280 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 275 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 270 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 265consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 260 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 255 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 250 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than245 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 240 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 235 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 230 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 225 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 220consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 215 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 210 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 205 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 200consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 195 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 190 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 185 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 180consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 175 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 170 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 165 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 160consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 155 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 150 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 145 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 140consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 135 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 130 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 125 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 120consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 115 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 110 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 105 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 100consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 95 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 90 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 85 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 80consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 75, e.g. less than 60consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 50 consecutive aminoacids, e.g. less than 40 consecutive amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7,10, and 13.

The polypeptide variant according to the present invention, is a variantof SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13 having at least 73%, such aspreferably at least 74%, for example at least 75%, such as at least 76%,such as at least 77%, for example at least 78%, such as at least 79%,such as at least 80%, for example at least 81%, such as at least 82%,such as at least 83%, for example at least 84%, such as at least 85%,such as at least 86%, for example at least 87%, such as at least 88%,such as at least 89%, for example at least 90%, such as at least 91%,such as preferably at least 92% sequence identity, such as at least 93%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 94% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 95% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 96% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 98% sequenceidentity, more preferably such as at least 99% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identity to any one of said SEQID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13, or a fragment thereof. The polypeptideaccording to the present invention is a variant, wherein the polypeptidevariant fragment contains less than 99.5%, such as less than 98%, e.g.less than 97%, such as less than 96%, e.g. less than 95%, such as lessthan 94%, e.g. less than 93% of the amino acid residues of any one ofSEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13, or a fragment thereof.

In one embodiment of the present invention the polypeptide variantfragment contains less than 810 consecutive amino acid residues of anyone of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13, or a fragment thereof, such asless than 800 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 795consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 790 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 785 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 780 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than770 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 760 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 750 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 745 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 740 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 735consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 730 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 725 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 720 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 715consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 390 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 710 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 705 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than700 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 690 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 685 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 680 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 675 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 670consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 650 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 645 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 640 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 635consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 630 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 625 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 620 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 615consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 610 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 605 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 600 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 590consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 585 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 580 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 575 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 570consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 565 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 560 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 555 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than550 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 545 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 540 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 535 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than530 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 525 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 520 consecutive amino acidresidues, such as less than 515 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g.less than 490 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 485consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 480 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 475 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 470 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than465 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 460 consecutiveamino acid residues, e.g. less than 455 consecutive amino acid residues,such as less than 450 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than445 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 440 consecutiveamino acid residues, e.g. less than 435 consecutive amino acid residues,such as less than 430 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than425 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 420 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 415 consecutive amino acidresidues, such as less than 410 consecutive amino acid residues of anyone of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13, or a fragment thereof, such asless than 400 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 395consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 390 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 385 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 380 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than370 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 360 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 350 consecutive amino acidresidues, e.g. less than 345 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 340 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 335consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 330 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 325 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 300 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 295consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 290 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 285 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 280 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 275consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 270 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 265 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 260 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 255consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 250 consecutive aminoacid residues, such as less than 245 consecutive amino acid residues,e.g. less than 240 consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than235 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 230 consecutiveamino acid residues, such as less than 225 consecutive amino acidresidues, such as less than 220 consecutive amino acid residues, such asless than 215 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 210consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 205 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 200 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 195 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 190consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 185 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 180 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 175 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 170consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 165 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 160 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 155 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 150consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 145 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 140 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 135 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 130consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 125 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 120 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 115 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 110consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 105 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 100 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 95 consecutive amino acid residues, e.g. less than 90consecutive amino acid residues, such as less than 85 consecutive aminoacid residues, e.g. less than 80 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 75, e.g. less than 60 consecutive amino acid residues, suchas less than 50 consecutive amino acids, e.g. less than 40 consecutiveamino acids of any one of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13, or a fragmentthereof.

The term “fragment thereof” may refer to any portion of the given aminoacid sequence of any one of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13. Fragments maycomprise more than one portion from within a full-length protein (suchas SEQ ID NO: 3, 7, 10, or 13), joined together. Suitable fragments maybe deletion or addition mutants. The addition of at least one amino acidmay be an addition of from preferably 2 to 250 amino acids, such as from10 to 20 amino acids, for example from 20 to 30 amino acids, such asfrom 40 to 50 amino acids. Fragments may include small regions from theprotein or combinations of these. The deletion and/or the additionmay—independently of one another—be a deletion and/or an addition withina sequence and/or at the end of a sequence.

A biologically active variant may be a deletion mutant of any one of SEQID NO: 3, 4, 7, and 13, sharing at least 92% sequence identity, forexample at least 93% sequence identity, such as at least 94% sequenceidentity, for example at least 95% sequence identity, such as at least96% sequence identity, for example at least 97% sequence identity, suchas at least 98% sequence identity, for example 99% sequence identity toany one of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13.

Deletion mutants suitably comprise at least 20 or 40 consecutive aminoacid and more preferably at least 80 or 100 consecutive amino acids inlength. Accordingly such a fragment may be a shorter sequence of thesequence as identified by any one of SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13,comprising at least 20 consecutive amino acids, for example at least 30consecutive amino acids, such as at least 40 consecutive amino acids,for example at least 50 consecutive amino acids, such as at least 60consecutive amino acids, for example at least 70 consecutive aminoacids, such as at least 80 consecutive amino acids, for example at least90 consecutive amino acids, such as at least 95 consecutive amino acids,such as at least 100 consecutive amino acids, such as at least 105 aminoacids, for example at least 110 consecutive amino acids, such as atleast 115 consecutive amino acids, for example at least 120 consecutiveamino acids, wherein said deletion mutants preferably share at least 92%sequence identity, for example at least 93% sequence identity, such asat least 94% sequence identity, for example at least 95% sequenceidentity, such as at least 96% sequence identity, for example at least97% sequence identity, such as at least 98% sequence identity, forexample 99% sequence identity with full length any one of SEQ ID NO: 3,4, 7, 10 and 13.

It is preferred that biological active variant of any one of SEQ ID NO:3, 4, 7, 10 and 13 comprises at the most 860, preferably at the most850, more preferably at the most 840, even more preferably at the most820, yet more preferably at the most 810, such as at the most 800, forexample at the most 790, more preferably at the most 780, even morepreferably at the most 770, at the most 760, preferably at the most 750,more preferably at the most 740, even more preferably at the most 720,yet more preferably at the most 710, such as at the most 700, forexample at the most 690, more preferably at the most 680, even morepreferably at the most 670, at the most 660, preferably at the most 650,more preferably at the most 640, even more preferably at the most 620,yet more preferably at the most 610, such as at the most 600, forexample at the most 590, more preferably at the most 580, even morepreferably at the most 570, at the most 560, preferably at the most 550,more preferably at the most 540, even more preferably at the most 520,yet more preferably at the most 510, such as at the most 500, forexample at the most 490, more preferably at the most 480, even morepreferably at the most 470, at the most 460, preferably at the most 450,more preferably at the most 440, even more preferably at the most 420,yet more preferably at the most 410, such as at the most 400, even morepreferably at the most 300, yet more preferably at the most 200, such asat the most 175, for example at the most 160, such as at the most 150amino acids, for example at the most 140 amino acids.

It is appreciated that a person skilled in the art will know how to makeand assess ‘conservative’ amino acid substitutions, by which one aminoacid is substituted for another with one or more shared chemical and/orphysical characteristics. Conservative amino acid substitutions are lesslikely to affect the functionality of the protein.

SEQ ID NO: 3 defines the BGL1 polypeptide of the present invention. Thesignal peptide is underlined.

SEQ ID NO: 3

SEQ ID NO: 4 is the amino acid sequence of the BGL1 polypeptide withoutsignal peptide.

SEQ ID NO: 4

For the sequence shown above, amino acid residues shown in bold areinvolved in substrate binding

Residues in italics are D (catalytic nucleophil) and E (catalytic acidresidue). The amino acids that are underlined by ‘.........’ constitutethe catalytic domain of the beta-glucosidase polypeptide BGL1. Withinthis region of the catalytic domain it is preferred that the amino acidsare not changed. In another embodiment the amino acids of the region ofthe catalytic domain if changed are only substituted with conservativeamino acids as described herein. In a preferred embodiment variants arevariants, wherein variation is occurs outside amino acids D261 and/orE490. In another preferred embodiment variants are variants, whereinvariation occurs outside the catalytic domain. In a more preferredembodiment variants, are variants, wherein variation occurs outsideamino acids selected from the group consisting of D73, R137, R181, H171,Y229, M226, L122, W262, W49 and V55. It is appreciated that any singleof the amino acids of the group constitutes separate preferredembodiments. Thus, variants are variants, wherein variation occursoutside amino acids D73, R137, R181, H171, Y229, M226, L122, W262, W49or V55.

Measuring Activity of the Polypeptide

Specific beta-glucosidase activity was measured using two differentsubstrates, pNPG and cellobiose. The assay using 5 mMp-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG) (Sigma) as substrate formeasuring beta-glucosidase activity was in 50 mM Na-Citrate buffer pH4.8. 15 μl sample and 150 μl substrate was incubated at 50° C. for 10min in 200 μl PCR tubes in a thermocycler (Biorad); 30 μl of thereaction was transferred to a microtiter plate already containing 50 μlM Na2CO3 for termination of the reaction. Absorbance was read at 405 nmin a plate reader (Dynex technology revalation 4.25). pNP (Sigma) wasused to prepare a standard curve. One unit (U) of enzyme activity wasdefined as the amount of enzyme needed to hydrolyze 1 μmol pNPG in 1minute. Protein quantification was done using the Pierce BCA proteinassay kit microplate procedure according to manufacturer's instructions(Pierce Biotechnology); enzyme samples were assayed at differentconcentrations in triple determination to ensure substrate saturation inthe assay.

The assay using 6 mM cellobiose was in 50 mM NaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 andwas performed as follows: 15 μl sample and 150 μl substrate wasincubated at 50° C. for 10 min in PCR tubes in a thermocycler (Bioread);50 μl of the reaction was transferred to a HPLC vial already containing1 ml 100 mM NaOH for termination of the reaction. The glucoseconcentration was measured by ion exchange chromatography at DionexICS3000 chromatography system equipped with an amperometric detectorusing a gold working electrode and an Ag/AgCl pH reference electrode,acquiring and interpreting data with the Chromeleon software (Dionex).10 μl samples were run on a CarboPac PA1 column with 100 mM NaOH aseluent A and 0.5 M NaAcetate in 100 mM NaOH as eluent B, run at a flowrate of 1 ml/min. Gradient elution was performed: 0-20% eluent B (0.5MNaAcetate in 100 mM NaOH) in 13 min followed by 2 min washing with 50%eluent B and 5 min re-equilibrating with 100% eluent A (100 mM NaOH).Samples were assayed at different concentrations in triple determinationto ensure substrate saturation in the assay.

For beta-glucosidase activity screening, three 0.5×0.5 cm squares werecut from PDA plates with 7 days old single fungal strains and incubatedin liquid culture of 20 g/l wheat bran (Finax), 20 g/l corn steep liquor(Sigma), 3 g/l NaNO3, 1 g/l K2HPO4, 0.5 g/l KCl, 0.5 g/l MgSO47H2O, 0.01g/l FeSO47H2O in a Falcon tube set-up with 10 ml of media shaking (180rpm) at room temperature for another 7 days. The samples werecentrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min and the supernatants assayed forbeta-glucosidase activity and protein content.

Enzymatic Activity of the Polypeptide

The polypeptide of the present invention has good thermostabilitycompared to known beta-glucosidases. This makes the polypeptide suitablefor incubation at higher temperatures than normally employed fordegrading or converting lignocellulosic material into glucose due to theintolerance of increased temperatures by other enzymes present in thedegradation cocktail as a cocktail of enzymes may be employed in orderto obtain a complete hydrolysis of lignocellulosic material. It isappreciated that the beta-glucosidase polypeptide of the presentinvention is hydrolyzing a β1-4 glucose-glucose linkage

In one embodiment the incubation temperature is in the range of 35° C.to 65° C., such as 40° C., preferably 41° C., more preferably 42° C.,preferably 43° C., more preferably 44° C., preferably 45° C., morepreferably 46° C., preferably 47° C., more preferably 48° C., preferably49° C., more preferably 50° C. However, the incubation temperature mayalso be higher such as 51° C., for example 52° C., such as 53° C., forexample 54° C., such as 55° C., for example 56° C., such as 58° C., forexample 59° C., such as 60° C., for example 61° C., such as 62° C., forexample 63° C., such as 64° C., for example 65° C., such as 66° C., forexample 67° C.

The activity of the polypeptides of the present invention is maintainedto a large extent even at elevated incubation temperatures. Thus, at 62°C. the activity of said polypeptide is 50% after 2 hours incubation.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 1 hr at the selected temperature for incubation, preferably atleast 1.5 hrs, more preferably at least 2 hrs, preferably at least 2.5hrs, more preferably at least 3 hrs, preferably at least 3.5 hrs, morepreferably at least 4 hrs, preferably at least 5.5 hrs, more preferablyat least 6 hrs, preferably at least 6.5 hrs, more preferably at least 7hrs, preferably at least 8 hrs, more preferably at least 9 hours,preferably at least 12 hours, more preferably at least 24 hours,preferably at least 2 days at 40° C.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 1 hr at the selected temperature for incubation, preferably atleast 1.5 hrs, more preferably at least 2 hrs, preferably at least 2.5hrs, more preferably at least 3 hrs, preferably at least 3.5 hrs, morepreferably at least 4 hrs, preferably at least 5.5 hrs, more preferablyat least 6 hrs, preferably at least 6.5 hrs, more preferably at least 7hrs, preferably at least 8 hrs, more preferably at least 9 hours,preferably at least 12 hours, more preferably at least 24 hours,preferably at least 2 days at 45° C.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 1 hr at the selected temperature for incubation, preferably atleast 1.5 hrs, more preferably at least 2 hrs, preferably at least 2.5hrs, more preferably at least 3 hrs, preferably at least 3.5 hrs, morepreferably at least 4 hrs, preferably at least 5.5 hrs, more preferablyat least 6 hrs, preferably at least 6.5 hrs, more preferably at least 7hrs, preferably at least 8 hrs, more preferably at least 9 hours,preferably at least 12 hours, more preferably at least 24 hours at 50°C.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 1 hr at the selected temperature for incubation, preferably atleast 1.5 hrs, more preferably at least 2 hrs, preferably at least 2.5hrs, more preferably at least 3 hrs, preferably at least 3.5 hrs, morepreferably at least 4 hrs, preferably at least 5.5 hrs, more preferablyat least 6 hrs, preferably at least 6.5 hrs, more preferably at least 7hrs, preferably at least 8 hrs, more preferably at least 9 hours,preferably at least 12 hours at 55° C.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 1 hr at the selected temperature for incubation, preferably atleast 1.5 hrs, more preferably at least 2 hrs, preferably at least 2.5hrs, more preferably at least 3 hrs, preferably at least 3.5 hrs, morepreferably at least 4 hrs, preferably at least 5.5 hrs, more preferablyat least 6 hrs at 60° C.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 1 hr at the selected temperature for incubation, preferably atleast 1.5 hrs, more preferably at least 2 hrs, preferably at least 2.5hrs at 62° C.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 1 hr at the selected temperature for incubation at 65° C.

The half life of the polypeptides of the present invention is preferablyat least 30 min, preferably at least 1 hr at the selected temperaturefor incubation at 66° C.

In particular, when the polyeptide of the invention is SEQ ID NO: 3, 4,or any functional fragment or variant thereof, as described elsewhereherein, the half-life of the beta-glucosidase activity at 60° C. is atleast 200 minutes, for example 300 minutes, such as at least 360minutes. Furthermore, when the polyeptide of the invention is SEQ ID NO:3, 4, or any functional fragment or variant thereof, as describedelsewhere herein, at least 50% of the beta-glucosidase activity of saidpolypeptide remains after 4 hours, such as 5 hours, for example after 6hours of incubation at 60° C.

Also, when the polyeptide of the invention is SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, or anyfunctional fragment or variant thereof, as described elsewhere herein,the specific activity, Vmax, of at least 40 U/mg with cellobiose assubstrate in hydrolysis.

The activity of the enzyme in degrading or converting lignocellulosicmaterial at temperatures as described herein incubating the enzyme withthe cellulosic material for 2 hrs is at least 20%, preferably at least30%, more preferably at least 40%, preferably at least 50%, morepreferably at least 60%, preferably at least 70%, more preferably atleast 80%, preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 95% of theactivity at the starting activity.

In another embodiment, the activity of the enzyme in degrading orconverting lignocellulosic material at elevated temperatures incubatingthe enzyme with the cellulosic material for 3 hrs is at least 20%,preferably at least 30%, more preferably at least 40%, preferably atleast 50%, more preferably at least 60%, preferably at least 70%, morepreferably at least 80%, preferably at least 90%, more preferably atleast 95% of the activity at the starting activity.

In a further embodiment, the activity of the enzyme in degrading orconverting lignocellulosic material at elevated temperatures incubatingthe enzyme with the cellulosic material for 4 hrs is at least 20%,preferably at least 30%, more preferably at least 40%, preferably atleast 50%, more preferably at least 60%, preferably at least 70%, morepreferably at least 80%, preferably at least 90%, more preferably atleast 95% of the activity at the starting activity.

In yet a further embodiment, the activity of the enzyme in degrading orconverting lignocellulosic material at elevated temperatures incubatingthe enzyme with the cellulosic material for 5 hrs is at least 20%,preferably at least 30%, more preferably at least 40%, preferably atleast 50%, more preferably at least 60%, preferably at least 70%, morepreferably at least 80%, preferably at least 90%, more preferably atleast 95% of the activity at the starting activity.

In another embodiment, the activity of the enzyme in degrading orconverting lignocellulosic material at elevated temperatures incubatingthe enzyme with the cellulosic material for 6 hrs is at least 20%,preferably at least 30%, more preferably at least 40%, preferably atleast 50%, more preferably at least 60%, preferably at least 70%, morepreferably at least 80%, preferably at least 90%, more preferably atleast 95% of the activity at the starting activity.

The polypeptides of the present invention is capable of degrading atleast 20% lignocellulosic material, preferably at least 30%, morepreferably at least 40%, preferably at least 50%, more preferably atleast 60%, preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%,preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 95% of thelignocellulosic material over a time span of at the most 7 days.

The mentioned activities and incubation temperatures are performed at pHin the range of pH 3 to pH 6, preferably in the range of pH 3.5 to pH5.5, more preferably in the range of pH 4 to pH 5, preferably in therange of pH 4.5 to pH 5.

In a preferred embodiment the pH used for incubation when degrading orconverting a lignocellulosic material is at pH 4.8

It is appreciated that the lignocellulosic material is in one embodimentcellulose, in particular cellobiose, cellodextrins as defined elsewhereherein. The lignocellulosic material may be obtained from any plantbiomass source, for example straw, maize stems, forestry waste, sawdustand/or wood-chips.

Polynucleotide

The present invention relates in one aspect to an isolatedpolynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid or its complementary sequencebeing selected from the group consisting of

-   -   a. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting        of an amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13,    -   b. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active        sequence variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the variant        has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7,        10, or 13, and    -   c. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active        fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acids of any of a)        through b), wherein said fragment is a fragment of SEQ ID NO 3,        4, 7, 10, or 13 or    -   d. SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 29, or fragments of at        least 30 contiguous nucleotides therefore    -   e. a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having at        least 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 29 or        fragments of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides thereof, or    -   f. a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9,        11, 12, or 29, or fragments of at least 90 contiguous        nucleotides thereof, and    -   g. a polynucleotide complementary to any of a) to f).

In one embodiment, the polynucleotide of the present invention isselected from the group consisting of

-   -   a. a polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence consisting        of SEQ ID NO.: 3 or    -   b. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active        sequence variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the variant        has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO.: 3 and    -   c. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active        fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acid of any of a)        trough b), wherein said fragment is a fragment of SEQ ID NO.: 3.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the polynucleotide isSEQ ID NO.: 1 or 2.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention the polynucleotide is apolynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid having 70% sequence identity toSEQ ID NO.: 1 or 2.

In yet another preferred embodiment of the invention the polynucleotideis capable of hybridising to a polynucleotide having the sequence of SEQID NO.: 1 or 2.

In a further, preferred embodiment of the invention the polynucleotideis complementary to

-   -   i) a polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence consisting        of SEQ ID No. 3 or    -   ii) a polynucleotide encoding a biologically active sequence        variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the variant has at        least 70% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO. 3, and    -   iii) a polynucleotide encoding a biologically active fragment of        at least 30 consecutive amino acids of any of a) through b),        wherein said fragment is a fragment of SEQ ID NO 3.

Thus, in one embodiment the polynucleotide of the present invention iscomplementary to SEQ ID NO.:1 or 2. In another preferred embodiment thepolynucleotide of the present invention is complementary to apolynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence consisting of SEQ ID NO.:3.

However, the polynucleotide of the invention is in another embodimentcomplementary to a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid having 70%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO.: 1 or 2.

The polynucleotide may comprise the nucleotide sequence of a naturallyoccurring allelic nucleic acid variant.

The polynucleotide of the invention may encode a variant polypeptide,wherein the variant polypeptide has the polypeptide sequence of anaturally occurring polypeptide variant.

The nucleic acid sequence of the polynucleotide may differ by a singlenucleotide from a nucleic acid sequence selected from the groupconsisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 or 29, However, thepolynucleotide may also differ from a nucleic acid sequence selectedfrom the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 or 29by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more nucleotides.

In one embodiment, the nucleic acid sequence of the polynucleotide hasat least 70% sequence identity such as preferably at least 71% sequenceidentity, more preferably e.g. at least 72% sequence identity, such asmore preferably at least 73% sequence identity, e.g. more preferably atleast 74% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 75%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 76% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 77% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 78% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least79% sequence identity, such as preferably 80% sequence identity, such aspreferably at least 81% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least82% sequence identity, such as more preferably at least 83% sequenceidentity, e.g. more preferably at least 84% sequence identity, morepreferably such as at least 85% sequence identity, more preferably e.g.at least 86% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 87%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 88% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 89% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 90% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least91% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 92% sequenceidentity, such as at least 93% sequence identity, more preferably e.g.at least 94% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least 95%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 96% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 97% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 98% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least99% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequenceidentity to a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting ofSEQ ID No. 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 29.

In a preferred embodiment the encoded polypeptide has at least 73%, suchas preferably at least 74%, for example at least 75%, such as at least76%, such as at least 77%, for example at least 78%, such as at least79%, such as at least 80%, for example at least 81%, such as at least82%, such as at least 83%, for example at least 84%, such as at least85%, such as at least 86%, for example at least 87%, such as at least88%, such as at least 89%, for example at least 90%, such as at least91%, such as at least 92% sequence identity, such as at least 93%sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 94% sequence identity,more preferably such as at least 95% sequence identity, more preferablye.g. at least 96% sequence identity, more preferably such as at least97% sequence identity, more preferably e.g. at least 98% sequenceidentity, more preferably such as at least 99% sequence identity, morepreferably e.g. at least 99.5% sequence identity with SEQ ID No: 3, 4,7, 10, or 13, more preferably at least 93%, more preferably at least94%, more preferably at least 95%, more preferably at least 96% morepreferably at least 96%, more preferably at least 97%, more preferablyat least 98%, more preferably at least 99% sequence identity to SEQ IDNo. 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13, more preferably wherein said polypeptide has thesequence of SEQ ID No. 3, 4, 7, 10, or 13.

In one embodiment, the isolated polynucleotide of the inventioncomprises a nucleic acid sequence having at least 70%, preferably atleast 71%, more preferably at least 72%, preferably at least 73%, morepreferred at least 74%, more preferred at least 75%, preferably at least76%, more preferably at least 77%, preferably at least 78%, morepreferred at least 79%, more preferred at least 80%, preferably at least81%, more preferably at least 82%, preferably at least 83%, morepreferred at least 84%, more preferred at least 85%, preferably at least86%, more preferably at least 87%, preferably at least 88%, morepreferred at least 89%, more preferred at least 90%, preferably at least91%, more preferably at least 92%, preferably at least 93%, morepreferred at least 94%, more preferred at least 95%, preferably at least96%, more preferably at least 97%, preferably at least 98%, morepreferred at least 99% sequence identity to the polynucleotide sequencepresented as any one of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 29.

In one embodiment, the isolated polynucleotide of the inventioncomprises a nucleic acid sequence having at least 70%, preferably atleast 71%, more preferably at least 72%, preferably at least 73%, morepreferred at least 74%, more preferred at least 75%, preferably at least76%, more preferably at least 77%, preferably at least 78%, morepreferred at least 79%, more preferred at least 80%, preferably at least81%, more preferably at least 82%, preferably at least 83%, morepreferred at least 84%, more preferred at least 85%, preferably at least86%, more preferably at least 87%, preferably at least 88%, morepreferred at least 89%, more preferred at least 90%, preferably at least91%, more preferably at least 92%, preferably at least 93%, morepreferred at least 94%, more preferred at least 95%, preferably at least96%, more preferably at least 97%, preferably at least 98%, morepreferred at least 99% sequence identity to the polynucleotide sequencepresented as SEQ ID NO: 1 and/or 2. The polynucleotide is even morepreferred at least 75%, such as at least 76%, for example at least 77,78, 79 or at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 or 29, or any fragmentof at least 30 amino acids thereof, and/or at least 85%, such as atleast 86%, for example at least 87, 88, 89 or at least 90% identical toSEQ ID NO: 2, or any fragment of at least 30 nucleotides thereof.

In another preferred embodiment, the polynucleotide is even morepreferred at least 79%, such as at least 80%, for example at least 81,82, 82 or at least 85% identical to SEQ ID NO: 5, or any fragment of atleast 30 nucleotides thereof, and/or at least 79%, such as at least 80%,for example at least 81, 82, 83 or at least 85% identical to SEQ ID NO:6, or any fragment of at least 30 nucleotides thereof.

In another preferred embodiment, the polynucleotide is even morepreferred at least 89%, such as at least 90%, for example at least 91,92, 93 or at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 8, or any fragment of atleast 30 nucleotides thereof, and/or at least 85%, such as at least 86%,for example at least 87, 88, 89 or at least 90% identical to SEQ ID NO:9, or any fragment of at least 30 nucleotides thereof.

In another preferred embodiment, the polynucleotide is even morepreferred at least 78%, such as at least 79%, for example at least 79,80, 81 or at least 82% identical to SEQ ID NO: 11, or any fragment of atleast 30 nucleotides thereof, and/or at least 72%, such as at least 73%,for example at least 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79 or at least 80%, identicalto SEQ ID NO: 12, or any fragment of at least 30 nucleotides thereof.

In yet another embodiment the polynucleotide is capable of hybridizingto the nucleic acid selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1,2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 29, or a fragment hereof, under stringentconditions as described below.

A portion of the polynucleotide may hybridize under stringent conditionsto a nucleotide probe corresponding to at least 10 consecutivenucleotides of a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consistingof SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 29, or a fragment hereof.

In yet another embodiment, the invention relates to polynucleotideshaving nucleic acid sequences (e.g., DNA, RNA) that hybridise to nucleicacids encoding a beta-glucosidase BGL polypeptide. In particular,nucleic acids which hybridize to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 or29 under high, moderate or reduced stringency conditions as describedabove.

In another embodiment, the invention relates to an RNA counterpart ofthe DNA nucleic acid encoding a beta-glucosidase BGL. In particular, itrelates to RNA counterparts of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 or29.

It is appreciated that the polynucleotide of the present invention isDNA, RNA, LNA or PNA.

Heterologous Nucleic Acid Sequence

The microorganism and/or the host cell of the present invention maycomprise one or more additional sequences, such as heterologous nucleicacid sequences, which are not native to the microorganism and/or hostcell, but has for example been inserted by recombinant gene transfectiontechnologies.

For example, a genetically modified host cell and/or microorganismaccording to the invention may comprise one or more additionalheterologous nucleic acid sequences in addition to a polynucleotideencoding a beta-glucosidase polypeptide of the present invention. Suchsequences may encode additional components as described herein below,including for example endoglucanase and/or cellobiohydrolase. However,the additional sequence may also be operably linked to thebeta-glucosidase gene of the invention, and direct the expressionthereof.

Accordingly, in the host cell and/or microorganism, a beta-glucosidasegene may be operably linked to an additional sequence directing theexpression thereof. In this case, it is preferred that the additionalsequence is capable of directing expression of the beta-glucosidase genein the particular host cell and/or microorganism. If a heterologousnucleic acid sequence comprises more than one beta-glucosidase gene theexpression of all of said beta-glucosidase genes may be directed by onesecond sequence, it is however preferred that each beta-glucosidase genecomprised within a genetically modified host microorganism is operablylinked to one such additional sequence, which directs expression of saidbeta-glucosidase gene. It is preferred that the additional sequencecomprises or even more preferably consists of a promoter sequencecapable of directing expression in the particular host microorganism.The skilled person will in general be able to identify and providepromoter sequences useful in a particular host microorganism.

The additional sequence may thus be a constitutive promoter or anexternally inducible promoter. In embodiments of the invention, whereinthe host microorganism is a fungus, and in particular when the hostmicroorganism is selected from species of Phanerochaete, such as P.chrysosporium; or Trichoderma, Fusarium or Aspergillus, then theadditional sequence may for example be selected from the groupconsisting of GPD-1 (Glyceraldehyd-Dehydrogenase),CBH1-1(Cellobiohydrolase), and G-6-P-DH (Glucose-6-phosphateDehydrogenase) promoters (see specifics regarding these promoters in theExamples herein below).

The additional sequence may also be an externally inducible promoter,i.e. any promoter which may be controlled by external factors, such astemperature or concentration of solutes in the surroundings, or aninternally inducible promoter, such as e.g. internally inducible by ametabolite reaching a threshold value. Preferred externally induciblepromoters are such promoters which are responsive to the concentrationof a solute in the surroundings, such as in the culture medium or in theprovided substrate. Very preferred inducible promoters are suchpromoters, which are activated by low levels or more preferably absenceof a nutrient, such as a nutrient selected from the group consisting ofnitrogen, phosphate, potassium, magnesium, sulfur and iron. Yet morepreferably, the inducible promoter is activated by low levels of and/orabsence of nitrogen. A non-limiting example of such a promoter is LG2(Ligninperoxidase H8 from P. chrysosporium) (see also examples hereinbelow) The LG2 promoter is in particularly useful, when the hostmicroorganism is a fungus, such as P. chrysosporium or Aspergillus.

In some embodiments of the invention, the heterologous nucleic acidsequence inserted in a host cell or microorganism of the presentinvention, does not comprise a second sequence, as described hereinabove. In these embodiments it is preferred that expression of theheterologous gene, such as a beta-glucosidase gene or other additionalcomponent as described herein below, including for example endoglucanaseand/or cellobiohydrolase is directed by a sequence endogenous to thehost microorganism, such as an endogenous promoter. This may be achievedby inserting the heterologous gene, such as the beta-glucosidase gene,just downstream of an endogenous promoter, for example by replacement byrecombination. For this purpose the heterologous nucleic acid sequencepreferably comprises flanking sequences (see more details below).

In addition to said heterologous gene, such as beta-glucosidase gene andoptionally said second sequence, the heterologous nucleic acid sequencemay comprise flanking regions. This is in particularly the case when itis desired that the heterologous sequence is comprised in a specificposition in the genome of the host cell and/or microorganism of theinvention. Each flanking sequence preferably comprises a sequence of inthe range of 200 to 2000, more preferably in the range of 200 to 1000base pairs, wherein said flanking sequence is at least 70%, preferablyat least 80%, more preferably at least 90%, yet more preferably at least95%, even more preferably at least 98%, yet more preferably at least100% identical to the sequence of the host cell or microorganism genome,where it is desirable that the heterologous nucleic acid sequence isinserted. In general the heterologous nucleic acid sequence comprises a5′ and a 3′ flanking sequence, wherein the 5′ flanking sequence also ispositioned 5′ to the 3′ flanking sequence within the genome of the hostcell or microorganism. Preferably, a heterologous nucleic acid sequencecomprising flanking regions will be inserted into the genome of the hostcell or microorganism by recombination. Non-limiting examples offlanking sequences are given in the Examples herein below.

It is also comprised within the present invention that the heterologousnucleic acid sequence does not comprise flanking sequences, in whichcase the heterologous nucleic acid sequence may be inserted randomlyinto the genome of the host cell or microorganism.

In addition to gene encoded by the heterologous sequence, such as abeta-glucosidase gene and the optional additional sequence and/orflanking sequences, the heterologous nucleic acid may comprise one ormore terminator sequences. In general the heterologous nucleic acidcomprises at most one terminator sequence operably linked to each firstsequence. The skilled person will be able to identify suitableterminator sequences useful in any given host cell or microorganism. Inembodiments wherein the host cell is a fungus, the terminator sequencemay for example be selected from the group consisting of trpC(Indole-3-glycerolphosphate synthase), GDP-(Glyceraldehyde phosphatedehydrogenase), CBH1-2 (Cellobiohydrolase)-terminator.

Further, in addition to gene encoded by the heterologous sequence, suchas a beta-glucosidase gene of the present invention and the optionaladditional sequence and/or flanking sequences and/or terminator, theheterologous nucleic acid may comprise one or more selection markers,preferably one selection marker. When a genetically modified host cellor microorganism comprises more than one heterologous nucleic acidsequence, then it is preferred that each heterologous nucleic acidsequence comprises different selection markers. The skilled person willbe able to identify suitable selection markers useful in any given hostcell and/or microorganism. In embodiments wherein the host cell ormicroorganism is a fungus, such as Phanerochaete (such as P.chrysosporium), Trichoderma, Fusarium or Aspergillus (such asAspergillus saccharolyticus) then the selection markers may for examplebe selected from the group consisting of Phleomycin binding protein(providing resistance to Phleomycin), Neomycin phosphotransferase(providing resistance to Kanamycin), Hygromycin resistance factor(providing resistance to hygromycin), NCBI Blast of icidine-aminase(providing resistance to NCBI Blast of icidine) and Bialaphoisresistance factor (providing resistance to Bialaphos).

Recombinant Vector Construct

The present invention also relates to recombinant expression vectorscomprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the presentinvention, a promoter, and transcriptional and translational stopsignals. The various nucleotide and control sequences described abovemay be joined together to produce a recombinant expression vector whichmay include one or more convenient restriction sites to allow forinsertion or substitution of the nucleotide sequence encoding thevariant at such sites. Alternatively, the nucleotide sequence may beexpressed by inserting the nucleotide sequence or a nucleic acidconstruct comprising the sequence into an appropriate vector forexpression. In creating the expression vector, the coding sequence islocated in the vector so that the coding sequence is operably linkedwith the appropriate control sequences for expression.

The recombinant expression vector may be any vector (e.g., a plasmid orvirus) which can be conveniently subjected to recombinant DNA proceduresand can bring about the expression of the nucleotide sequence. Thechoice of the vector will typically depend on the compatibility of thevector with the host cell into which the vector is to be introduced. Thevectors may be linear or closed circular plasmids.

The vectors of the present invention preferably contain one or moreselectable markers which permit easy selection of transformed cells. Aselectable marker is a gene the product of which provides for biocide orviral resistance, resistance to heavy metals, prototrophy to auxotrophs,and the like. Suitable markers for yeast host cells are ADE2, HISS,LEU2, LYS2, MET3, TRP1, and URA3. Selectable markers for use in afilamentous fungal host cell include, but are not limited to, amdS(acetamidase), argB (ornithine carbamoyltransferase), bar(phosphinothricin acetyltransferase), hph (hygromycinphosphotransferase), niaD (nitrate reductase), pyrg(orotidine-5′-phosphate decarboxylase), sC (sulfate adenyltransferase),and trpC (anthranilate synthase), as well as equivalents thereof.Preferred for use in an Aspergillus cell are the amdS and pyrG genes ofAspergillus nidulans or Aspergillus oryzae and the bar gene ofStreptomyces hygroscopicus.

The vector may be an autonomously replicating vector, i.e., a vectorwhich exists as an extrachromosomal entity, the replication of which isdistinct from chromosomal replication, e.g., a plasmid, anextrachromosomal element, a minichromosome, or an artificial chromosome.The vector may contain any means for assuring self-replication.Alternatively, the vector may be one which, when introduced into thehost cell, is integrated into the genome and replicated together withthe chromosome(s) into which it has been integrated. Furthermore, asingle vector or plasmid or two or more vectors or plasmids whichtogether contain the total DNA to be introduced into the genome of thehost cell, or a transposon may be used.

The vectors of the present invention preferably contain an element(s)that permits integration of the vector into the host cell's genome orautonomous replication of the vector in the cell independent of thegenome.

For integration into the host cell genome, the vector may rely on thenucleotide sequence encoding the variant or any other element of thevector for integration of the vector into the genome by homologous orrandom recombination. Alternatively, the vector may contain additionalnucleic acid sequences for directing integration by homologousrecombination into the genome of the host cell. The additional nucleicacid sequences enable the vector to be integrated into the host cellgenome at a precise location(s) in the chromosome(s). To increase thelikelihood of integration at a precise location, the integrationalelements should preferably contain a sufficient number of nucleic acids,such as 100 to 10,000 base pairs, preferably 400 to 10,000 base pairs,and most preferably 800 to 10,000 base pairs, which are highlyhomologous with the corresponding target sequence to enhance theprobability of homologous recombination. The integrational elements maybe any sequence that is homologous with the target sequence in thegenome of the host cell. Furthermore, the integrational elements may benon-encoding or encoding nucleic acid sequences. On the other hand, thevector may be integrated into the genome of the host cell bynon-homologous recombination.

For autonomous replication, the vector may further comprise an origin ofreplication enabling the vector to replicate autonomously in the hostcell in question. Examples of origins of replication for use in a yeasthost cell are the 2 micron origin of replication, ARS1, ARS4, thecombination of ARS1 and CEN3, and the combination of ARS4 and CEN6. Theorigin of replication may be one having a mutation which makesfunctioning temperature sensitive in the host cell (see, e.g., Ehrlich,1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 75: 1433).Examples of a plasmid replicator useful in a filamentous fungal cell areAMA1 and ANSI (Gems et al., 1991, Gene 98:61-67; Cullen et al., 1987,Nucleic Acids Research 15: 9163-9175; WO 00/24883). Isolation of theAMA1 gene and construction of plasmids or vectors comprising the genecan be accomplished according to the methods disclosed in WO 00/24883.

More than one copy of a nucleotide sequence of the present invention maybe inserted into the host cell to increase production. An increase inthe copy number of the nucleotide sequence can be obtained byintegrating at least one additional copy of the sequence into the hostcell genome or by including an amplifiable selectable marker gene withthe nucleotide sequence where cells containing amplified copies of theselectable marker gene, and thereby additional copies of the nucleotidesequence, can be selected for by cultivating the cells in the presenceof the appropriate selectable agent.

The procedures used to ligate the elements described above to constructthe recombinant expression vectors of the present invention are wellknown to one skilled in the art (see Sambrook et al., 1989, supra).

In one aspect, the present invention relates to an isolated recombinantnucleic acid vector comprising at least one isolated polynucleotidecomprising a nucleic acid or its complementary sequence being selectedfrom the group consisting of

-   a. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting of an    amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13,-   b. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active sequence    variant as defined herein above, for example a varian having at    least 92% sequence identity to any one of said SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7,    10, and 13, and-   c. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active fragment    of at least 30 consecutive amino acids of any of the amino acid    sequences of a) through b), or-   d. SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, or 12, 29, or-   e. a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having at    least 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, or 29, or-   f. a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,    12 or 29, and-   g. a polynucleotide complementary to any of a) to f).

In a preferred embodiment, the nucleic acid vector comprises at leastone polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence selected from thegroup consisting of:

-   a. a polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence consisting of    SEQ ID NO.: 3 or-   b. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active sequence    variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the variant has at least    92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO.: 3 and-   c. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active fragment    of at least 30 consecutive amino acid of any of the amino acid    sequences of a) trough b)-   d. a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having at    least 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2, or-   e. a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO.: 1 or 2, and-   f. a polynucleotide complementary to any of a) to f).

The specific choice of a vector backbone of the present inventiondepends on the choice of the microorganism for expression of apolypeptide of the present invention. For example, the vector is aprokaryotic expression vector or a eukaryotic expression vector. Thus,in one embodiment, the present invention relates to an isolatedeukaryotic expression vector comprising at least one nucleic acidsequence encoding at least one β-glucosidase polypeptide of the presentinvention, or a biologically active fragment thereof.

Numerous vectors are available and the skilled person will be able toselect a useful vector for the specific purpose. The vector may, forexample, be in the form of a plasmid, cosmid, viral particle, yeastvector or artificial chromosome. In a preferred embodiment, a vector forfungal expression of the polynucleotide in a fungal cell such asAspergillus, for example the Aspergillus AP, Aspergillussaccharolyticus, or Trichoderma, Fusarium.

The appropriate polynucleotide sequence may be inserted into the vectorby a variety of procedures, for example, DNA may be inserted into anappropriate restriction endonuclease site(s) using techniques well knownin the art. Apart from the polynucleotide according to the invention,the vector may furthermore comprise one or more of a signal sequence, anorigin of replication, one or more marker genes, an enhancer element, apromoter, and a transcription termination sequence. The vector may alsocomprise additional sequences, such as enhancers, poly-A tails, linkers,polylinkers, operative linkers, multiple cloning sites (MCS), STOPcodons, internal ribosomal entry sites (IRES) and host homologoussequences for integration or other defined elements. Methods forengineering nucleic acid constructs are well known in the art (see,e.g., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Sambrook et al., eds.,Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2nd Edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.,1989).

The plasmid or plasmids used for preparing the beta-glucosidase of thepresent invention, in particular for producing BGL (such as SEQ ID NO:3, 4, 7, 10 or 13) may be any plasmid or vector that may be subjected torecombinant DNA procedures. The plasmid comprising a polynucleotidesequence encoding a beta-glucosidase may be prepared by ligating thenucleotide sequence into a suitable plasmid, or by any other suitablemethod. The plasmid preferably contains one or more selectable markersdescribed herein which permit easy selection of transformed cells. Thechoice of plasmid will often depend on the host cell into which it is tobe introduced.

In the present invention, the plasmid may be an autonomously replicatingplasmid, i.e. a plasmid which exists as an extrachromosomal entity, thereplication of which is distinct from chromosomal replication.

The plasmid is preferably an expression vector in which the nucleotidesequence in question is operably linked to additional segments requiredfor transcription of the DNA. In general, the expression vector isderived from a plasmid, a cosmid or a bacteriophage, or may containelements of any or all of these. For purposes of the present invention,the terms “plasmid” and “vector” are used interchangeably.

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs comprisinga polynucleotide sequence encoding the beta-glucosidase of the presentinvention operably linked to one or more control sequences which directthe expression of the coding sequence in a suitable host cell underconditions compatible with the control sequences. Expression will beunderstood to include any step involved in the production of thepolypeptide including, but not limited to, transcription,post-transcriptional modification, translation, post-translationalmodification, and secretion.

“Nucleic acid construct” is defined herein as a nucleic acid molecule,either single- or double-stranded, which is isolated from a naturallyoccurring gene or which has been modified to contain segments of nucleicacid combined and juxtaposed in a manner that would not otherwise existin nature. The term nucleic acid construct is synonymous with the termexpression cassette when the nucleic acid construct contains all thecontrol sequences required for expression of a coding sequence of apolypeptide of the present invention. The term “coding sequence” isdefined herein as a nucleotide sequence which directly specifies theamino acid sequence of its protein product. The boundaries of a genomiccoding sequence are generally determined by the ATG start codon(eukaryotes), or alternative start codons such as GTG and TTG, locatedjust upstream of the open reading frame at the 5′-end of the mRNA and atranscription terminator sequence located just downstream of the openreading frame at the 3′-end of the mRNA. A coding sequence can include,but is not limited to, DNA, cDNA, and recombinant nucleotide sequences.

An isolated nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptides of the presentinvention, preferably a beta-glucosidase polypeptide BGL may bemanipulated in a variety of ways to provide for expression of thevariant. Manipulation of the nucleotide sequence prior to its insertioninto a vector may be desirable or necessary depending on the expressionvector. The techniques for modifying nucleotide sequences utilizingrecombinant DNA methods are well known in the art.

The term “control sequences” is defined herein to include all componentswhich are necessary or advantageous for the expression of thepolypeptides, in particular a beta-glucosidase polypeptide BGL of thepresent invention. Each control sequence may be native or foreign to thenucleotide sequence encoding BGL. Such control sequences include, butare not limited to, a leader, polyadenylation sequence, propeptidesequence, promoter, signal peptide sequence, and transcriptionterminator. At a minimum, the control sequences include a promoter, andtranscriptional and translational stop signals. The control sequencesmay be provided with linkers for the purpose of introducing specificrestriction sites facilitating ligation of the control sequences withthe coding region of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptidesof the present invention, in preferred embodiment the beta-glucosidaseBGL. The term “operably linked” is defined herein as a configuration inwhich a control sequence is appropriately placed at a position relativeto the coding sequence of the nucleotide sequence such that the controlsequence directs the expression of the polypeptides.

The control sequence may be an appropriate promoter sequence, which isrecognized by a host cell for expression of the nucleotide sequence. Thepromoter sequence contains transcriptional control sequences whichmediate the expression of polypeptides of the present invention, inparticular the beta-glucosidase polypeptide BGL. The promoter may be anynucleic acid sequence which shows transcriptional activity in the hostcell of choice including mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters, andmay be obtained from genes encoding extracellular or intracellularpolypeptides either homologous or heterologous to the host cell.

In one embodiment, at least one control sequence obtained fromAspergillus is employed, and in a preferred embodiment, one or morecontrol sequences are obtained from a microorgnanism of the presentinvention, in particular Aspergillus saccharolyticus.

Promoters for directing the transcription of the polynucleotides of thepresent invention is for example obtained from Aspergillus, mostpreferred from a microorganism of the present invention, such asAspergillus saccharolyticus. Other examples of suitable promoters fordirecting the transcription of the polynucleotides of the presentinvention in a filamentous fungal host cell are obtained fromAspergillus saccharolyticus, or promoters obtained from the genes forAspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase,Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger acid stablealpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger or Aspergillus awamori glucoamylase(glaA), Rhizomucor miehei lipase, Aspergillus oryzae alkaline protease,Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphate isomerase, Aspergillus nidulansacetamidase, Fusarium venenatum amyloglucosidase, Fusarium oxysporumtrypsin-like protease (WO 96/00787), Trichoderma reeseibeta-glucosidase, Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase I, Trichodermareesei endoglucanase I, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase II, Trichodermareesei endoglucanase III, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase IV,Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase V, Trichoderma reesei xylanase I,Trichoderma reesei xylanase II, Trichoderma reesei beta-xylosidase, aswell as the NA2-tpi promoter (a hybrid of the promoters from the genesfor Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase and Aspergillus oryzaetriose phosphate isomerase); Magnaporta grisea ribosomal promoter orequivalents thereof; and also mutant, truncated, and hybrid promotersthereof.

In a yeast host, useful promoters are obtained from the genes forSaccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiaegalactokinase (GAL1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcoholdehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH1, ADH2/GAP),Saccharomyces cerevisiae triose phosphate isomerase (TPI), Saccharomycescerevisiae metallothionine (CUP1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae3-phosphoglycerate kinase. Other useful promoters for yeast host cellsare described by Romanos et al, 1992, Yeast 8: 423-488.

The control sequence may also be a suitable transcription terminatorsequence, which is recognized by a host cell to terminate transcription.The terminator sequence is operably linked to the 3′-terminus of thenucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide, in particular thebeta-glucosidase polypeptide BGL. Any terminator which is functional inthe host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Terminators are for example obtained from Aspergillus, most preferredfrom a microorganism of the present invention, such as Aspergillussaccharolyticus. For example, preferred terminators for filamentousfungal host cells are obtained from Aspergillus saccharolyticus, or thegenes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillusnigerglucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase,Aspergillus niger alphaglucosidase, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-likeprotease, or Neurospora crassa beta-tubulin terminator.

Preferred terminators for yeast host cells are obtained from the genesfor Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase, Saccharomyces cerevisiaecytochrome C(CYC1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiaeglyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Other useful terminators foryeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a suitable leader sequence, anontranslated region of an mRNA which is important for translation bythe host cell. The leader sequence is operably linked to the 5′-terminusof the nucleotide sequence encoding the beta-glucosidase polypeptideBGL. Any leader sequence that is functional in the host cell of choicemay be used in the present invention.

Leaders are for example obtained from Aspergillus, most preferred from amicroorganism of the present invention, such as Aspergillussaccharolyticus. Preferred leaders for filamentous fungal host cells areobtained from Aspergillus saccharolyticus, or the genes for Aspergillusoryzae TAKA amylase and Aspergillus nidulans triose phosphate isomerase.Suitable leaders for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes forSaccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae3-phosphoglycerate kinase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, andSaccharomyces cerevisiae alcoholdehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH2/GAP).

The control sequence may also be a polyadenylation sequence, a sequenceoperably linked to the 3′-terminus of the polypeptide-encoding sequenceand which, when transcribed, is recognized by the host cell as a signalto add polyadenosine residues to transcribed mRNA. Any polyadenylationsequence which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used inthe present invention.

Polyadenylation sequences are for example obtained from Aspergillus,most preferred from a microorganism of the present invention, such asAspergillus saccharolyticus. Preferred polyadenylation sequences forfilamentous fungal host cells are obtained from Aspergillussaccharolyticus, or from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase,Aspergillus nigerglucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilatesynthase, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease, and Aspergillusniger alpha-glucosidase. Useful polyadenylation sequences for yeast hostcells are described by Guo and Sherman, 1995, Molecular Cellular Biology15: 5983-5990.

The control sequence may also be a signal peptide coding region thatcodes for an amino acid sequence linked to the amino terminus of thepolypeptides of the present invention, in particular thebeta-glucosidase polypeptide BGL, where BGL is free of its signalpeptide (e.g. SEQ ID NO 4 for BGL1) and directs the encoded polypeptideinto the cell's secretory pathway. The 5′-end of the coding sequence ofthe nucleotide sequence may inherently contain a signal peptide codingregion naturally linked in translation reading frame with the segment ofthe coding region which encodes the secreted beta-glucosidasepolypeptide(s). Alternatively, the 5′-end of the coding sequence maycontain a signal peptide coding region which is foreign to the codingsequence. The foreign signal peptide coding region may be required wherethe coding sequence does not naturally contain a signal peptide codingregion. Alternatively, the foreign signal peptide coding region maysimply replace the natural signal peptide coding region in order toenhance secretion of the beta-glucosidase polypeptides of the presentinvention. However, any signal peptide coding region which directs theexpressed polypeptide into the secretory pathway of a host cell ofchoice may be used in the present invention.

Signal peptide sequences are for example obtained from Aspergillus, mostpreferred from a microorganism of the present invention, such asAspergillus saccharolyticus. Effective signal peptide coding regions forfilamentous fungal host cells are the signal peptide coding regionsobtained from Aspergillus saccharolyticus (cf. SEQ ID NO: 3, 7, 10, 13,initial bold sequence), or from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKAamylase, Aspergillus niger neutral amylase, Aspergillus nigerglucoamylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, Humicola insolensCe145 A cellulase, and Humicola lanuginosa lipase. Useful signalpeptides for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes forSaccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor and Saccharomyces cerevisiaeinvertase. Other useful signal peptide coding regions are described byRomanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a propeptide coding region that codesfor an amino acid sequence positioned at the amino terminus of thepolypeptides of the present invention. The resultant polypeptide isknown as a proenzyme or propolypeptide (or a zymogen in some cases). Apropolypeptide is generally inactive and can be converted to a matureactive polypeptide by catalytic or autocatalytic cleavage of thepropeptide from the propolypeptide. The propeptide coding region may beobtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor,Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, and Myceliophthora thermophilalaccase (WO 95/33836).

Where both signal peptide and propeptide regions are present at theamino terminus of a polypeptide, the propeptide region is positionednext to the amino terminus of a polypeptide and the signal peptideregion is positioned next to the amino terminus of the propeptideregion.

It may also be desirable to add regulatory sequences which allow theregulation of the expression of the polypeptides of the presentinvention relative to the growth of the host cell. Examples ofregulatory systems are those which cause the expression of the gene tobe turned on or off in response to a chemical or physical stimulus,including the presence of a regulatory compound. In yeast, the ADH2system or GAL1 system may be used. In filamentous fungi, the TAKAalpha-amylase promoter, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase promoter, andAspergillus oryzae glucoamylase promoter may be used as regulatorysequences. Other examples of regulatory sequences are those which allowfor gene amplification. In eukaryotic systems, these include thedihydrofolate reductase gene which is amplified in the presence ofmethotrexate, and the metallothionein genes which are amplified withheavy metals. In these cases, the nucleotide sequence encodingpolypeptides of the present invention, in particular thebeta-glucosidase polypeptide BGL, would be operably linked with theregulatory sequence.

By having the polynucleotide positioned in a vector the polynucleotidecan easily be stored, amplified, modified and expressed.

Microorganism and Host Cell

The present invention also encompasses any microorganism, whichcomprises a polypeptide or nucleic acid sequence or vector of thepresent invention, in particular, the host organism is a microorganism,which comprise a beta-glucosidase of the invention, or at least onepolynucleotide encoding same or a biological active part thereof. Thehost organism may be the natural host of the native beta-glucosidasepolypeptide, such as Aspergillus AP (Aspergillus saccharolyticus), orthe host microorganism may be a genetically modified microorganism,wherein a polypeptide of the present invention has been introduced bytransgenesis. Thus, one aspect of the present invention relates to anisolated microorganim comprising a polypeptide as defined elsewhereherein, a polynucleotide as defined herein and/or a recombinant nucleicacid vector as defined herein.

Preferably the microorganism, host organism, and/or polypeptide of thepresent invention is capable of degrading one or more plant cell wallconstituents such as lignocellolosic material. In a preferred embodimentthe lignocellulosic material is selected from the group consisting ofcellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin, morepreferably, the host microorganism is capable of degrading at least twoplant cell wall constituents selected from the group consisting ofcellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin, yet morepreferably the host organism is capable of degrading at least threeplant cell wall constituents selected from the group consisting ofcellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin, even morepreferably the host microorganism is capable of degrading all ofcellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin.

It is thus preferred that the microorganism, host organism and/orpolypeptide of the present invention is capable of degrading at leastone plant cell wall constituent selected from the group consisting ofcellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin, morepreferably the host microorganism is capable of degrading at least oneplant cell wall constituent selected from the group consisting ofcellobiose and cellodextrin, yet more preferably, the host organism iscapable of degrading cellobiose,

Accordingly, it is very preferred that the microorganism, host organismand/or polypeptide of the present invention is capable of degradinglignocellulosic material as described herein. Preferably, themicroorganism, host organism and/or polypeptide of the present inventionis capable of degrading at least 40%, more preferably at least 50%, evenmore preferably at least 60%, yet more preferably at least 65%, and mostpreferably at least 90% of the lignocellulosic material content of anygiven carbon source (preferably wood residuals or agriculturalresiduals), within a time span of at the most 6 months, preferably atthe most 5 months, yet more preferably at the most 4 month, yet morepreferably at the most 3 months, even more preferably at the most 2months, yet more preferably at the most 1 month, yet more preferably atthe most 1 week, and most preferably at the most 3 days.

In addition, it is preferred that the host organism of the presentinvention is capable of degrading one or more additional components ofplant biomass, such as for example polymerized carbon sources,structural or non-structural carbohydrates, in particular it ispreferred that the host organism is capable of degradingpolysaccharides, such as e.g. cellulose, in plant biomass. Preferably atleast 50%, more preferably at least 60%, yet more preferably at least70%, even more preferably at least 80%, further preferred at least 90%of the one or more additional components of plant biomass, such as allpolysaccharides in plant biomass, preferably within a time span of atthe most 6 months, preferably at the most 3 months, yet more preferablyat the most 1 month, yet more preferably at the most 20 days, even morepreferably at the most 3 days.

Thus, it is preferred that the microorganism, host organism and/orpolypeptide of the present invention is capable of degrading at least50%, more preferably at least 60%, yet more preferably at least 70%,even more preferably at least 80% of any given plant, more preferably atleast 90% biomass comprising lignocellulosic material as determined inreference to dry weight, preferably within a time span of at the most 6months, preferably at the most 3 months, yet more preferably at the most1 month, yet more preferably at the most 20 days, even more preferablyat the most 3 days.

In addition it is preferred that the microorganism, host organism and/orpolypeptide of the present invention is capable of degrading andassimilating at least 50%, more preferably at least 60%, yet morepreferably at least 70%, even more preferably at least 80% of any givenplant biomass as determined by carbon content, preferably within a timespan of at the most 6 months, preferably at the most 3 months, yet morepreferably at the most 1 month, yet more preferably at the most 20 days,even more preferably at the most 10 days, and most preferred at the most3 days.

When mentioned herein that the genetically modified microorganism, orthe host organism, is capable of degrading one or more plant cell wallconstituents it is furthermore preferred that the genetically modifiedmicroorganism, or the host organism, is capable of degrading andassimilating the breakdown products of one or more plant cell wallconstituents selected from the group consisting of cellulose,hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin.

When used herein the term assimilating means capable of degrading andutilizing the breakdown products of a carbon source in the metabolisme,preferably anabolism, of biomolecules, such as e.g. acids and acidderivatives, and preferably in the anabolism of “microbial oil” orbiochemicals and bioproducts produced through biorefinery forsubstitution of products produced by oil in oil refineries.

Thus, it is preferred that the host organism expresses and secretes ascomplete a set of enzymes as possible for the degradation of the biomassas defined above. Thus, a host organism capable of degradinglignocellulosic material in general expresses and secretes all enzymesrequired for degradation of lignin. Preferred host microorganisms arecapable of degrading lignin in its entirety and it is preferred thatsuch host microorganisms comprise one or more enzymes selected from thegroup consisting of lignin peroxidases (also referred to as ligninase),manganese peroxidase, and laccase. Particularly useful is the combinedaction of a set of enzymes from Phanerochaete crysosporium having asmain constituents a lignin peroxidase, a manganese peroxidase and alaccase activity, or enzymes from Trichoderma, Aspergillus or Fusarium.

The same applies for the other polysaccharide and/or other plant cellwall constituents mentioned herein above. Thus, more preferably, thehost microorganism expresses and secretes all enzymes for thedegradation of all of cellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrinand/or pectin, and any other structural or non-structural carbohydrate,such as polysaccharides. The enzyme mixtures that may be involved indegradation of various polysacccharides and/or plant cell wallconstituents are reviewed by Evans and Hedge (Evans, C. S, and Hedger J.N. in Gadd, G. M. ed.: in Fungi in Bioremediation; Cambridge UniversityPress, (2001) p 1-24; ISBN 0-521-781191). Preferably, the hostmicroorganism expresses and preferably secretes a set ofcarbohydrolases.

Aspergillus Saccharolyticus

In one important aspect, the present invention relates to amicroorganism, such as an isolated microorganism, of the speciesAspergillus saccharolyticus. The novel Aspergillus strain of the presentinvention has been named Aspergillus saccharolyticus A. Sørensen, P.Lübeck et Frisvad sp. nov.

Aspergillus saccharolyticus (sac.ca'ro.ly'ti.cus. N.L. masc. adj.saccharolyticus, being able to degrade cellobiose and cellodextins).

In particular, the invention relates to a microorganim as deposited inthe Centraalbereau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS) and having accessionnumber CBS 127449. The invention also relates to any descendant or afunctional mutant of said microorganism. Thus, in any context of thepresent invention, any reference to the microorganism, also relates toany descendant or a functional mutant of said microorganism.

In particular, the microorganism, descendant or a functional mutantthereof is capable of hydrolyzing a β1-4 glucose-glucose linkage. Thus,the microorganism of the invention, including said descendant orfunctional mutant thereof, comprises at least one beta-glucosidase (BGL)polypeptide and/or a gene endoding said polypeptide. However, themicroorganism may comprise at least two, such as at least three, forexample at least four beta-glucosidase (BGL) polypeptides and/or a genesendoding these. In particular, the microorganism, descendant or afunctional mutant thereof may also comprise multiple copies of eachbeta-glucosidase (BGL) polypeptide and/or a gene endoding saidpolypeptide. For example, the microorganism, descendant or a functionalmutant thereof, in one embodiment comprise comprise at least 2 copies ofsaid one or more genes encoding said BGL polypeptide, for example atleast 5, or at least 10, such as more than 20, 30, 40, or more than 50copies of said one or more genes.

For example, the microorganism, Aspergillus saccharolyticus, comprise atleast one beta-glucosidase (BGL) polypeptide, which is selected from thegroup consisting of BGL1 (SEQ ID NO: 3 or 4), BGL2 (SEQ ID NO: 7), BGL3(SEQ ID NO: 10) and BGL4 (SEQ ID NO: 13).

In another example, the microorganism, Aspergillus saccharolyticus,comprise at least one nucleotide sequence encoding a beta-glucosidase(BGL) polypeptide, which is selected from the group consisting of BGL1(SEQ ID NO: 3 or 4), BGL2 (SEQ ID NO: 7), BGL3 (SEQ ID NO: 10) and BGL4(SEQ ID NO: 13). For example, the microorganism, Aspergillussaccharolyticus, comprise at least one nucleotide sequence, which isselected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,12, 14, 15, 16, and/or 29, and/or any fragment of at least 30nucleotides thereof.

In one embodiment, the microorganism, descendant or functional mutantthereof, comprise an ITS nucleic acid sequence, which is at least 89%identical to SEQ ID NO: 16 or any fragment thereof as defined elsewhereherein. However in a preferred embodiment, the microorganism, descendantor functional mutant thereof, comprise an ITS nucleic acid sequence,which is at least 90%, such as at least 91%, such as at least 92%, suchas at least 93%, more preferably e.g. at least 94%, more preferably suchas at least 95%, more preferably e.g. at least 96%, more preferably suchas at least 97%, more preferably e.g. at least 98%, more preferably suchas at least 99%, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% with SEQ ID NO: 16,or any fragment thereof as defined elsewhere herein.

In one embodiment, the microorganism, descendant or functional mutantthereof, comprise a Calmodulin nucleic acid sequence, which is at least89% identical to SEQ ID NO: 15 or any fragment thereof as definedelsewhere herein. However in a preferred embodiment, the microorganism,descendant or functional mutant thereof, comprise a Calmodulin nucleicacid sequence, which is at least 90%, such as at least 91%, such as atleast 92%, such as at least 93%, more preferably e.g. at least 94%, morepreferably such as at least 95%, more preferably e.g. at least 96%, morepreferably such as at least 97%, more preferably e.g. at least 98%, morepreferably such as at least 99%, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5%identical with SEQ ID NO: 15, or any fragment thereof as definedelsewhere herein.

In one embodiment, the microorganism, descendant or functional mutantthereof, comprise a beta-tubulin nucleic acid sequence, which is atleast 87% identical to SEQ ID NO: 14, or any fragment thereof as definedelsewhere herein. However in a preferred embodiment, the microorganism,descendant or functional mutant thereof, comprise a beta-tubulin nucleicacid sequence, which is at least 88%, such as at least 89%, such as atleast 90%, such as at least 91%, such as at least 92%, such as at least93%, more preferably e.g. at least 94%, more preferably such as at least95%, more preferably e.g. at least 96%, more preferably such as at least97%, more preferably e.g. at least 98%, more preferably such as at least99%, more preferably e.g. at least 99.5% identical with SEQ ID NO: 14,or any fragment thereof as defined elsewhere herein.

In a preferred embodiment, the microorganism, descendant or functionalmutant thereof, comprise a nucleic acid sequence at least 90% identicalto SEQ ID NO: 16, a nucleic acid sequence at least 90% identical to SEQID NO: 15, and a nucleic acid sequence at least 88% identical to SEQ IDNO: 14.

Based on morphology, the microorganism of the invention (Aspergillussaccharolyticus) is related to A. japonicus or A. aculeatus. However,extrolite profiles and DNA sequencing data show that Aspergillussaccharolyticus is clearly different from all known species. A.saccharolyticus is not related to other black aspergilli based oncomparing sequence data of parts of the beta-tubulin and calmodulingenes as well as the ITS region, using A. flavus as the out group.

Phylogeny

Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the ITS and calmodulin genesequence data, A. saccharolyticus belongs to the Glade with A.homomorphus, A. aculeatinus, A. uvarum, A. japonicus, and both A.aculeatus strains, while for the beta-tubulin gene sequence data A.saccharolyticus clusters with A. homomorphus, A. aculeatinus, A. uvarum,and A. aculeatus CBS 114.80. The separate grouping in the beta-tubulintree of A. japonicus and A. aculeatus CBS 172.66 T has consistently beenshown in other publications that have used these exact strain sequences(Noonim et al., 2008, Samson et al., 2007, Varga et al., 2007, de Vrieset al., 2005, Samson et al., 2004b). The separate grouping is due to thetwo aspergilli having one less intron in the beta-tubulin gene comparedto the other Nigri species. For all three loci, A. saccharolyticus isplaced on its own branch far from the other species in the cladesupported by the majority-rule consensus analysis for all three loci andhigh bootstrap values for the beta-tubulin and calmodulin loci, but lowbootstrap value (51%) for the ITS locus. Sequence alignment shows thatamongst the species from series Aculeata and Homomorpha (Frisvad et al.,2007) that are phylogenetically closely related to A. saccharolyticus,interspecific sequence divergences are ≦0.7%, 7.1%, and 5.7% for theITS, calmodulin, and beta-tubulin regions, respectively.

Meanwhile, the interspecific sequence divergences in the ITS,calmodulin, and beta-tubulin region between A. saccharolyticus and theother species in the Glade are on average 12.9±0.6%, 20±0.5%, and15.4±1.2%, respectively. The variation in sequence data between A.saccharolyticus and A. homomorphus is the same as the variation betweenA. homomorphus and the smaller clade(s) of A. aculeatinus, A. uvarum, A.japonicus, and both A. aculeatus strains. Searching the NCBI databasedoes not give any closer genetic match with respect to A.saccharolyticus.

UP-PCR Fingerprinting

The microorganism of the invention, A. saccharolyticus, may bedistinguished from other black aspergilli by Universally Primed-PCRanalysis using each of the two UP primers, L45 and L15/AS19. UP-PCR is aPCR fingerprinting method that has demonstrated its applicability indifferent aspects of mycology. These applications constitute analysis ofgenome structures, identification of species, analysis of population andspecies diversity, revealing of genetic relatedness at infra- andinter-species level, and identification of UP-PCR markers at differenttaxonomic levels (strain, group and/or species) (Lübeck & Lübeck, 2005).Different Aspergilli: A. saccharolyticus, A. aculeatinus, A. ellipticus,A. homomorphus, A. niger, A. uvarum, A. aculeatus and A. japonicus,produced a unique banding profile, and do not share any bands.

Enzyme Activity

The microorganism of the invention preferably comprise abeta-glucosidase activity, and the betaglucosidase activity may beisolated or obtained from an extract of the microorganism or from theincubation broth of the microorganism, after letting the microorganismincubate in the broth for a certain period. In one embodiment, themicroorganism of the invention is characterized in that an extractand/or incubation broth of said microorganism, descendant or functionalmutant thereof, has a beta-glucosidase activity of at least 5 U/mg oftotal protein. For example, an extract and/or incubation broth of saidmicroorganism, descendant or functional mutant thereof, has abeta-glucosidase activity, wherein the half-life of saidbeta-glucosidase activity at 60° C. is at least 200 minutes. Also, inone example, an extract and/or incubation broth of said microorganism,descendant or functional mutant thereof, has a beta-glucosidaseactivity, wherein at least 50% of said beta-glucosidase activity remainsafter 4 hours of incubation at 60° C.

Morphology

Aspergillus saccharolyticus is characterised by the following features:Colony diameter at 7 days: CYA at 25° C.: 58-62 mm, at 37° C.: 7-14 mm;CYAS: 11.14 mm; YES: 75-80 mm; OA: 39-42 mm; CY20S: 42-54 mm; CY40S:43-54 mm; MEA: 35-37 mm; CREA 30-34 mm, poor growth, good acidproduction, colony first white then dark brown to black. Exudatesabsent, reverse cream-coloured to light greyish olive brown on CYA andlight brown on YES. Conidial heads globose; stipes 200-850×5-7 μm, wallsthick, smooth; vesicles 25-40 μm diam, globose; uniseriate, phialidesflask shaped with a short broad collulum, 5.5-7 μm; conidia mostlyglobose, but some are subglobose, 5-6.2 μm, distinctly echinulate, withlong sharp discrete spines, the spines being 0.6-0.8 μm long. Sclerotiahave not been observed.

The type strain CBS 127449^(T) (═IBT 28509^(T)) was isolated from undera toilet seat made of treated oak wood, Gentofte, Denmark.

Further characteristics of Aspergillus saccharolyticus are described inexample 2.

Host Cells

The present invention also relates to a recombinant host cell,comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a beta-glucosidasepolypeptide as described elsewhere herein and/or a recombinant nucleicacid vector as described herein. The recombinant host cell comprises arecombinant nucleic acid vector comprising a polynucleotide of thepresent invention is introduced into a host cell so that the vector ismaintained as a chromosomal integrant or as a self-replicatingextrachromosomal vector as described earlier. The term “host cell”encompasses any progeny of a parent cell that is not identical to theparent cell due to mutations that occur during replication. The choiceof a host cell will to a large extent depend upon the gene encoding thepolypeptide and its source.

The host cell may also be any suitable host microorganism. Accordingly,preferably the host cell may be selected from host microorganismsbelonging to a phylum selected from the group consisting of yeasts,fungi, bacteria, algae or plants. However, the host cell may be anyprokaryote or eukaryote, such as a mammalian, insect, plant, or fungalcell.

Host microorganisms capable of degrading cellulose preferably expressand secrete one or more glycoside hydrolases, such as endo-acting orexo-acting cellulases. These enzymes may be part of a multienzymecomplex, such as a cellulosome. Host microorganisms that are capable ofdegrading starch preferably comprise amylases. In a very preferredembodiment the host microorganism comprises a secretome, such as acellulose-induced secretome, which preferably may be composed ofglycosyl-hydrolases, such as a total of in the range of 15 to 50, suchas around 32, for example 32 glycosyl-hydrolases. In addition, the hostmicroorganism preferably contains endoglucanases and/orcellobiohydrolases for cellulose degradation. Additionally, the hostmicroorganism preferably comprises endoxylanases, alpha-galactosidasesand/or other enzymes involved in the degradation of hemicelluloses.

If the host microorganism does not endogenously comprise genes encodingsome or all of the enzymes for degradation of desired polysaccharidesand/or plant cell wall constituents, the enzyme(s) may be introducedinto the host microorganism by genetic modification.

In one embodiment, the host microorganism is an organism with ayeast-like growth behavior, such as yeast, for example Saccharomycescerevisiae. Preferably, said yeast is capable of degradingpolysaccharides, such as starch, comprises the enzymatic apparatus togrow on carbon sources such as, for example, fruit juices or starchcontaining substrates. In another less preferred embodiment the hostmicroorganism is a bacteria, such as a bacteria capable of degrading atleast one, preferably at least two, more preferably at least three, evenmore preferably at least four, yet more preferably all of the plant cellwall constituents selected from the group consisting of cellulose,hemicellulose, pectin, and lignin.

In a very preferred embodiment of the invention the host microorganismis a fungus, more preferably a filamentous fungus. Filamentous fungiparticularly useful as host microorganisms within the scope of thepresent invention are filamentous fungi capable of degrading andassimilating the breakdown products of the lignocellulosic matter fromthe plant biomass, preferably the natural habitat of said filamentousfungi is decaying plant material. Examples of useful host organismshaving as natural habitat decaying plant material include white rot, redrot and soft rot fungi together with fungi like Penicillium,Aspergillus, Fusarium, Trichoderma and Neurospora. Preferred hostmicroorganisms are fungi capable of hyphal growth that can penetrateinto the lignocellulosic matter, usually with the help of secretedcarbohydrolases.

Many fungi have specialized in the degradation of a fraction of thepolysaccharides and/or plant cell wall constituents from plant biomasssuch as for example cellulose or hemicellulose. Thus, in one embodiment,the host microorganism is a fungus specialized in the degradation of afraction of the polysaccharides and/or plant cell wall constituents fromplant biomass such as for example cellulose or hemicellulose. However,more preferably the host microorganism is a fungus capable of degradingmost of the polysaccharides and plant cell wall constituents present inplant biomass.

Thus, the host microorganism may be any fungus having the ability todegrade any plant cell wall constituents, in particular lignocellosicmaterial e.g. any structural or non-structural polysaccharide asdescribed herein above, in particular the host microorganism may be anyfungus capable of growing on one or more constituents of plant biomasssuch as starch, pectin, cellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose,cellodextrin or lignin. Accordingly, the host organism may be afilamentous fungus which has the capacity to use one or more plant cellwall constituents as carbon source. Examples of useful fungi are givenin Evans and Hedge (Evans, C. S. and Hedger J. N. in Gadd, G M ed.: inFungi in Bioremediation; Cambridge University Press, (2001) p 1-24; ISBN0-521-781191). In one embodiment, the host microorganism is a fungusselected from the group consisting of white-rot, red-rot and soft-rotfungi. The host cell may also in a preferred embodiment be selected fromAscomycetes. Thus, for example, the host microorganism may be a fungusselected from the group consisting of fungi of the genus Trichoderma,Trametes, Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillium.

In a very preferred embodiment of the invention the host microorganismis a fungus capable of degrading at least one, preferably at least two,more preferably at least three, yet more preferably at least four, morepreferably all of the plant cell wall constituents selected fromcellulose, hemicellulose, cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin. Thus, itis preferred that the host microorganism is a fungus which is capable ofdegrading at least cellobiose, preferably at least cellobiose andcellodextrin, more preferably all of cellulose, hemicellulose,cellobiose, cellodextrin and pectin.

Therefore, in one embodiment of the present invention the hostmicroorganism is a fungus of the Phanerochaetaceae family, morepreferably a fungus belonging to the Phanerochaete genus, even morepreferably, a fungus selected from the group consisting of Phanerochaeteallantospora, Phanerochaete arizonica, Phanerochaete chrysosporium,Phanerochaete avellanea, Phanerochaete burtii, Phanerochaete carnosa,Phanerochaete chrysorhizon, Phanerochaete radicata, Phanerochaetesalmonicolor, Phanerochaete tuberculata, Phanerochaete velutina andPhanerochaete chrysosporium. In one preferred embodiment the hostmicroorganism is a white rot fungus. The advantage of using for examplewhite-rot fungi is i.a. the ability of these fungi to degrade lignin,which supports the betaglucosidase activity of the polypeptides of thepresent invention.

More preferably, the host microorganism is, for example of the strain RP78. This fungus has the enzymatic capacity to degrade cellulose,hemi-cellulose, lignin, and pectin.

P. chrysosporium is in general capable of achieving high conversionrates in biomass degradation and therefore P. chrysosporium isparticularly useful as a host microorganism for industrial scaleapplication of the methods according to the present invention. Forexample, cultivating P. chrysosporium in industrial scale may beperformed by solid state fermentation, for example essentially asdescribed by Kumar, A. G. et al. (2006) Bioresource Technology p.1521-1528). Using this process P. chrysosporium was capable of degrading65% of lignin content of Achra zapota leaves in 28 days.

In another highly preferred embodiment, the host cell is selected fromAscomycetes. In a most preferred embodiment, the host cell is selectedfrom Trichoderma and Aspergillus

In one embodiment, the microorganism or host cell/organism is a fungus,such as Aspergillus, and in a specific embodiment, the host ofAspergillus AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus, which is the natural hostfor the beta-glucosidases identified by SEQ ID NO: 3, 7, 10, and 13.

The host cell may be any fungal cell. “Fungi” as used herein includesthe phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Zygomycota (asdefined by Hawksworth et al., In, Ainsworth and Bisby's Dictionary ofThe Fungi, 8th edition, 1995, CAB International, University Press,Cambridge, UK) as well as the Oomycota (as cited in Hawksworth et al.,1995, supra, page 171) and all mitosporic fungi (Hawksworth et al.,1995, supra).

In a preferred embodiment, the fungal host cell is a yeast cell. “Yeast”as used herein includes ascosporogenous yeast (Endomycetales),basidiosporogenous yeast, and yeast belonging to the Fungi Imperfecti(NCBI Blast of omycetes). Since the classification of yeast may changein the future, for the purposes of this invention, yeast shall bedefined as described in Biology and Activities of Yeast (Skinner, F. A.,Passmore, S. M., and Davenport, R. R., eds, Soc. App. Bacterial.Symposium Series No. 9, 1980).

In a more preferred embodiment, the yeast host cell is a Candida,Hansenula, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, orYarrowia cell.

In a most preferred embodiment, the yeast host cell is a Saccharomycescarlsbergensis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces diastaticus,Saccharomyces douglasii, Saccharomyces kluyveri, Saccharomyces norbensisor Saccharomyces oviformis cell. In another most preferred embodiment,the yeast host cell is a Kluyveromyces lactis cell. In another mostpreferred embodiment, the yeast host cell is a Yarrowia lipolytica cell.

In another preferred embodiment, the fungal host cell is a filamentousfungal cell. “Filamentous fungi” include all filamentous forms of thesubdivision Eumycota and Oomycota (as defined by Hawksworth et al.,1995, supra). The filamentous fungi are generally characterized by amycelial wall composed of chitin, cellulose, glucan, chitosan, mannan,and other complex polysaccharides. Vegetative growth is by hyphalelongation and carbon catabolism is obligately aerobic. In contrast,vegetative growth by yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae is bybudding of a unicellular thallus and carbon catabolism may befermentative.

In a more preferred embodiment, the filamentous fungal host cell is, butnot limited to, an Acremonium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Humicola, Mucor,Myceliophthora, Neurospora, Penicillium, Thielavia, Tolypocladium, orTrichoderma cell.

In a most preferred embodiment, the filamentous fungal host cell is anAspergillus awamori, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus,Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus aculeatus,Aspergillus uvarum, Aspergillus aculeatinus, Aspergillus carbonarius orAspergillus oryzae cell. In another most preferred embodiment, thefilamentous fungal host cell is a Fusarium bactridioides, Fusariumcerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusariumgraminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusarium heterosporum, Fusarium negundi,Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusariumsambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum, Fusafuim sporotrichioldes, Fusariumsulphureum, Fusarium torulosum, Fusarium trichothecioides, or Fusariumvenentum cell. In an even more preferred embodiment, the filamentousfungal host cell is a Fusarium venentum (Nirenberg sp. nov.) cell. Inanother most preferred embodiment, the filamentous fungal host cell is aHumicola insolens, Humicola lanuginosa, Mucor miehei, Myceliophthorathermophila, Neurospora crassa, Penicillium purpurogenum, Thielaviaterrestris, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichodermalongibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, or Trichoderma viride cell. Inanother even most preferred embodiment, the filamentous fungal host cellis Trichoderma reesei RutC3O.

It is understood that also the Aspergillus saccharolyticus of thepresent invention may serve as a host cell.

The fungal cell, into which the mixture of plasmid/fragmentpolynucleotide is to be introduced, may be any fungal cell useful in thepresent invention. A “recombination fungal cell” is defined herein as acell capable of mediating shuffling of a number of homologous nucleotidesequences.

In a preferred embodiment, the fungal recombination cell is a yeastcell. In a more preferred embodiment, the yeast recombination cell is aCandida, Hansenula, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces,Schizosaccharomyces, or Yarrowia cell.

In a most preferred embodiment, the yeast recombination cell is aKluyveromyces lactis, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, Saccharomycescerevisiae, Saccharomyces diastaticus, Saccharomyces douglasii,Saccharomyces kluyveri, Saccharomyces norbensis, Saccharomycesoviformis, or Yarrowia lipolytica cell.

In another preferred embodiment, the fungal recombination cell is afilamentous fungal cell. In a more preferred embodiment, the filamentousfungal recombination cell is an Acremonium, Aspergillus, Fusarium,Humicola, Mucor, Mycellophthora, Neurospora, Penicillium, Thielavia,Tolypocladium, or Trichoderma cell.

In a most preferred embodiment, the filamentous fungal recombinationcell is an Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillusjaponicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillusaculeatus, Aspergillus uvarum, Aspergillus aculeatinus, Aspergilluscarbonarius or Aspergillus oryzae cell. In another most preferredembodiment, the filamentous fungal recombination cell is a Fusariumbactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusariumculmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusariumheterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusariumreticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum,Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium torulosum,Fusarium trichothecioides, or Fusarium venenatum cell. In another mostpreferred embodiment, the filamentous fungal recombination cell is aHumicola insolens, Humicola lanuginosa, Mucor miehei, Mycellophthorathermophila, Neurospora crassa, Penicillum purpurogenum, Thielaviaterrestris, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichodermalongibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, or Trichoderma viride cell.

Fungal cells may be transformed by a process involving protoplastformation, transformation of the protoplasts, and regeneration of thecell wall in a manner known perse. Suitable procedures fortransformation of Aspergillus and Trichoderma host cells are describedin EP 238 023.

Method for Producing Polypeptide

The present invention also relates to methods of producing a polypeptideof the present invention. In one aspect, the invention relates to amethod of producing a polypeptide, said method comprising cultivating ahost cell or a microorganism of the present invention. Thus, theinvention relates to a method of producing a polypeptide, said methodcomprising cultivating

-   a) a host cell of the present invention, such as a host cell    comprising    -   i) a polypeptide of the present invention, such as a polypeptide        comprising        -   an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10,            and 13,        -   a biologically active sequence variant of any of SEQ NO: 3,            4, 7, 10, and 13, wherein said variant has at least 92%            sequence identity to said SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13, or        -   a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive            amino acids of any of the amino acid sequences of above;    -   ii) a polynucleotide of the present invention, such as a        polynucleotide comprising        -   a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting            of an amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13, or        -   a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologicaly active            sequence variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the            variant has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID            NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13, or        -   a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active            fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acids of any of            the amino acid sequences of above, or        -   SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 or 17, 29,            or        -   a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having            at least 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,            12, 14, 15, 16 or 17, or        -   a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8,            9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 or 17, 29, or        -   a polynucleotide complementary to any of the above; or    -   iii) a nucleic acid vector comprising a polynucleotide sequence        of the present invention, such as a polynucleotide mentioned        under ii); or    -   b) a microorganism of the present invention, such as a        microorganism of the species Aspergillus saccharolyticus, such        as the microorganim as deposited in the Centraalbereau voor        Schimmelcultures (CBS) and having accession number CBS 127449,        or a descendant or a functional mutant thereof.

The produced polypeptide is then preferably recovered from themicroorganism and/or host cell, and/or recovered from the incubationbroth of the host cell and/or microorganism.

The method of the invention is suitable both for producing a polypeptideof the present invention, such as a BGL polypeptide, for example BGL1,BCL2, BGL3, and/or BGL 4, identified as SEQ ID NO: 3, 7, 10, and 13,respectively, as well as functional variants thereof. However, themethod may also be used for producing other polypeptides. Themicroorganism of the present invention, such as Aspergillussaccharolyticus, is suitbable for the expression of transgenes, andthus, a gene encoding any gene of interest may be introduced into thegenome of Aspergillus saccharolyticus, and expressed by thatmicroorganism, and recovered from the incubation broth and/or froim anextract of the microorganism cells.

In one embodiment, a bgl gene of the microorganism of the invention hasbeen replaced with a heterologous polynucletide sequence encodingpolypeptide to be produced according to the present method, wherein saidpolypeptide may be recovered. In a preferred embodiment, the bgl1 geneof a microorganism of the invention has been replaced with aheterologous polynucletide sequence encoding said polypeptide to berecovered.

For facilitating the production of polypeptides, the host cell and/ormicroorganism may be genetically modified, as explained elsewhereherein. Such modification includes selection markers, polyadenylationsignals etc.

However, the polypeptides of the present invention (e.g. thoseidentified by SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and/or 13 or variant thereof) mayalso in one embodiment be produced chemically by liquid-phase orsolid-phase synthesis. In a preferred embodiment, however, thepolypeptides are produced by biosynthesis, wherein the polypeptide isproduced in a host organism, such as a microorganism comprising anucleic acid sequence or vector encoding a polypeptide of the presentinvention.

Similarly, the polypeptide of the present invention may be extractedfrom Aspergillus saccharolyticus for example as described herein in theexamples.

Method for Degrading a Lignocellulosic Material

In one aspect, the present invention relates to methods for degradation,conversion or hydrolysis of a lignocellulosic material. Thus, one aspectof the present invention relates to a method for degrading or convertinga lignocellulosic material, said method comprising incubating saidlignocellulosic material with at least one polypeptide as describedherein, at least one microorganism as defined herein, at least onrecombinant host cell as described herein, at least one composition asdefined herein and/or at least one kit-of parts as defined elsewhereherein. After incubation, the degraded lignocellolosic material may berecovered.

In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method for degrading orconverting a lignocellulosic material, said method comprising i)incubating said lignocellulosic material with at least one polypeptideas described herein. ii) recovering the degraded lignocellulosicmaterial. The polypeptide is for example BGL1 (SEQ ID NO: 3), BCL2 (SEQID NO: 7), BGL3 (SEQ ID NO: 10), or BGL4 (SEQ ID NO: 13), or functionalvariants thereof.

Another embodiment of the invention relates to a method for degrading orconverting a lignocellulosic material, said method comprising i)incubating said lignocellulosic material with at least one microorganismas defined herein and ii) recovering the degraded lignocellulosicmaterial.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention relates to a method fordegrading or converting a lignocellulosic material, said methodcomprising i) incubating said lignocellulosic material with at least onerecombinant host cell as described herein and ii) recovering thedegraded lignocellulosic material.

A further embodiment of the present invention relates to a method fordegrading or converting a lignocellulosic material, said methodcomprising i) incubating said lignocellulosic material with at least onecomposition as defined herein and ii) recovering the degradedlignocellulosic material.

Yet a further embodiment of the present invention relates to a methodfor degrading or converting a lignocellulosic material, said methodcomprising i) incubating said lignocellulosic material with at least onekit-of parts as defined elsewhere herein and ii) recovering the degradedlignocellulosic material.

In one embodiment the lignocellulosic material is as defined elsewhereherein and obtained from straw, maize stems, forestry waste, sawdustand/or wood-chips.

The lignocellulosic material and at least one polypeptide, at least onemicroorganism, at least one recombinant host cell, at least onecomposition and/or kit-of parts is incubated at a temperature in therange from 40 degrees C. to 70 degrees C., preferably in the range from40 degrees C. to 60 degrees C., more preferably in the range from 40degrees C. to 50 degrees C. In preferred embodiment the incubationtemperature is 50 degrees C. which is the most applied temperature forincubation. However, in one preferred embodiment the lignocellulosicmaterial is incubated at temperatures above 50 degrees C., where thepolypeptide of the present invention is stil active in contrast to anumber of known beta-glucosidases.

In one embodiment the method comprises treating said lignocellulosicmaterial with at least one additional component. The at least oneadditional component is for example selected from the group consistingof cellulase, endogluconase, cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase,hemicellulase, esterase, laccase, protease and peroxidise. It isappreciated that the at least one component in separate embodiments iscellulase, endogluconase, cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase,hemicellulase, esterase, laccase, protease or peroxidise.

In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, saidlignocellulosic material is at least partly converted or degraded tomonosaccharide glucose units. In one embodiment at least 50% of saidlignocellulosic material is converted or degraded to monosaccharideglucose units, more preferably at least 60%, preferably at least 70%,more preferably at least 80%, preferably at least 90%, more preferably95%. Preferably 97% said lignocellulosic material is converted ordegraded to monosaccharide glucose units

Moreover, the invention relates to a method of producing monosaccharidesfrom a lignocellulosic material, said method comprising a) incubatingthe cellulosic material with at least one beta-glucosidase polypeptideof the invention, at least one recombinant host cell, at least onecomposition of the invention, at least one kit-of-parts, and/or at leastone microorganism of the invention.

Given that the microorganism and/or host cell of the present inventionare able to produce BGL polypeptide of high activity, the microorganismand/or hoist cell is suitable for on-site enzyme production, where theenzyme, such as BGL enzyme (e.g. BGL 1, BCL2, BGL3 and/or BGL4 orfunctional variants thereof) are produced on location as opposed tobeing delivered as a prepared enzyme solution. This is particularlyuseful because at least a part of the beta-glucosidase activity remainsin the incubation broth of the microorganism. When the microorganism orhost cell is used for on-site enzyme production, the degradation and/orconversion of a lignocellulosic material may be further facilitated byintroducing an additional polynucleotide encoding a cellulase, anendogluconase, a cellobiohydrolase, a beta-glucosidase, a hemicellulase,an esterase, a laccase, a protease and/or a peroxidase.

Pretreatment of Solid Lignocellulosic Material

The first step in the process for converting solid lignocellulosicbiomass material into lower saccharides, such as monosaccharides,involves preferably a pretreatment of the biomass, wherein the rigidstructure of biomass are broken and the accessibility of the sugarpolymers for the enzyme hydrolysis is increased. In one embodiment thepretreatment is subjecting the biomass to extreme tempereatures,pressure and acid/base conditions or the milder biological approaches asdescribed in Alvira et al 2010 Bioresour Technol 101, 4851-4861), Mosieret al 2005 Bioresour Technol 96, 673-686; Sun & Cheng 2002 BioresourTechnol 83, 1-11, hereby incorporated by reference.

Accordingly, the methods of the present invention for the degrationand/or conversion of a lignocellulosic material preferably involve astep of pretreating the lignocellulosic material. The pretreatmentinclude any treatment suitable for disrupting the rigid structure of thelignocellulosic raw material, and making sugar polymers accessible forenzymatic attack. For example, the pretreatment may include biologicalpretreatments physical pretreatments and chemical pretreatments, andcombination thereof, including physico-chemical pretreatments.

In one embodiment, the method of the invention comprises pretreating thelignocellulosic material with an agent capable of converting saidlignocellulosic material into cellobiose and/or cellodextrins. The agentis for example an acid, an endoglucanase and/or a cellobiohydrolase.

Biological pretreatments may involve fungal pretreatment, for examplewith lignin-degrading fungi, such as white-rot fungi such asPhanerochaete chrysosporium, Ceriporia lacerate, Cyathus stercolerus,Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, Pycnoporus cinnarbarinus and/or Pleurotusostreaus.

Physical pretreatments may involve mechanical comminution, where theaverage particle size and cristallinity of the lignocellulosic materialis reduced in order to increase the specific surface and reduce thedegree of polymerization. This can be achieved by combination ofchipping, grinding or milling depending on the final particle size ofthe material (e.g. 10-30 mm after chipping and 0.2-2 mm after milling orgrinding). Another physical pretreatment form is extrusion, where thelignocellulosic material is subjected to heating, mixing and shearing,resulting in physical and chemical modifications during the passagethrough the extruder. Screw speed and barrel temperature disrupt thelignocellulose structure causing defibrillation, fibrillation andshortening of the fibers, which increases the accessibility ofcarbohydrates to enzymatic attack.

Chemical pretreatments may involve alkali pretreatments, where thelignocellulosic material is treated with for example sodium, potassium,calcium and ammonium hydroxides. Another alternative is acidpretreatment, which serves to solubilize the hemicellulosic fraction ofthe biomass and to make the cellulose more accessible to enzymes. Acidpretreatment can be performed with concentrated or diluted acid bututilization of concentrated acid is less attractive for ethanolproduction due to the formation of inhibiting compounds. Furthermore,equipment corrosion problems and acid recovery are important drawbackswhen using concentrated acid pretreatments. Other examples of chemicalpretreatments are Ozonolysis (lysis with ozone), Organosolvation(treatment with organic or aqueous solvent mixtures), and Ionic liquids(ILs) (i.e. salts) pretreatment.

Various combinations of biological, physical and chemical pretreatmentsare also within the scope of the present invention. In one example thelignocellulosic material is subject to physico-chemical pretreatments,such as SO2-steam explosion, in which the biomass is subjected topressurised steam for a period of time ranging from seconds to severalminutes, and then suddenly depressurised. This pretreatment combinesmechanical forces and chemical effects due to the hydrolysis(autohydrolysis) of acetyl groups present in hemicellulose.

In one embodiment, the pretreatment involves alkali treatment, inanother preferred embodiment the pretreatment involves acid treatment.In yet another embodiment the pretreatment comprises a step oforganosolv treatment. In a further embodiment the pretreatment involvessteam-, ammonia fiber- or CO₂ explosion, and/or wetoxidation. It isappreciated that any of the listed pretreatments can be used in separateembodiments or using one or more types of pretreatment in combination. Aperson skilled in the art knows how to pretreat biomass material priorto hydrolysis of cellulose, hemicelluse, cellobiose, cuclodextrin and/orpectin.

Further Processing of Degraded and/or Converted Lignocellulosic Material

By the method of the present invention, a lignocellulosic material is atleast partly degraded to monosaccharide glucose units, and preferably,at least 50% of said lignocellulosic material is degraded tomonosaccharide glucose units. Those monosaccharide glucose units maythen be used for further chemical modification or processing, forchemical anabolism, and/or for generation of other chemical products.

So, in one embodiment, the monosaccharide glucose units are incubatedwith one or more fermenting microorganisms thereby producing afermentation product. The fermenting microorganism is selected from anysuitable microorganism, for example yeast, fungi or bacteria. The methodmay comprise obtaining at least one fermentation product from thefermentation. The at least one fermentation product is for example analcohol, inorganic acid, organic acid, hydrocarbon, ketone, amino acid,and/or gas. The fermentation product is preferably recovered from thefermentation.

The monosaccharide glucose units may however, also be used forproduction of any chemical product, which normally requires glucose. Inthis way, the method of the present invention may be used for processes,which involved glucose, which is normally obtained from sources otherthan lignocellulosic material.

In one embodiment, the monosaccharide glucose units are used for theproduction of a chemical product selected from the group consisting ofFormic Acid, Methanol, Carbon Monoxide (+H2 gives syngas), Carbondioxide, Acetaldehyde, Acetic acid & anhydride, Ethanol, Glycine, Oxalicacid, Ethylene glycol, Ethylene oxide, Alanine, Glycerol,3-Hydroxypropionic acid, Lactic acid, Malonic acid, Serine, Propionicacid, Acetone, Acetoin, Aspartic acid, Butanol, Fumaric acid,3-Hydroxybutryolactone, Malic acid, Succinic acid, Threonine,Arabinitol, Furfural, Glutamic acid, Glutaric acid, Itaconic acid,Levulinic acid, Proline, Xylitol, Xylonic acid, Aconitic acid, Adipicacid, Citric acid, Fructose, 2,5 Furan dicarboxylic acid, Glucaric acid,Gluconic acid, Kojic & Comeric acid, Lysine, and/or Sorbitol. However,it is understood that the monosaccharide glucose units obtained fromdegradation/conversion of lignocellulosic material by a method of thepresent invention, may be used for any chemical process, and for thegeneration of any chemical product, wherein glucose is normallyemployed. In a preferred embodiment, the chemical product is isolatedfrom the reaction.

Composition

The present invention also relates to compositions comprising one ormore of the components of the present invention.

In one aspect, the present invention relates to a composition comprising

-   a) a polypeptide of the present invention, such as a polypeptide    comprising    -   an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and        13,    -   a biologically active sequence variant of any of SEQ NO: 3, 4,        7, 10, and 13, wherein said variant has at least 92% sequence        identity to said SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13, or    -   a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino        acids of any of the amino acid sequences of a) through b;-   b) a polynucleotide of the present invention, such as a    polynucleotide comprising    -   a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting of        an amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13,    -   a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologicaly active sequence        variant of the amino acid sequence, wherein the variant has at        least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and        13, and    -   a polynucleotide sequence encoding a biologically active        fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acids of any of the        amino acid sequences of a) through b), or    -   SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, or 29, or    -   a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having at        least 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14,        15, 16, 17, or 29, or    -   a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9,        11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, or 29, and    -   a polynucleotide complementary to any of the above;-   c) a nucleic acid vector comprising a polynucleotide sequence of the    present invention, such as a polynucleotide mentioned under b)-   d) a host cell of the present invention, such as a host cell    comprising a polypeptide mentioned under a), a polynucleotide of the    present invention, such as mentioned under b) and/or a recombinant    nucleic acid vector of the present invention, such as mentioned    under c),-   e) a microorganism of the species Aspergillus saccharolyticus, such    as the microorganim as deposited in the Centraalbereau voor    Schimmelcultures (CBS) and having accession number CBS 127449, or a    descendant or a functional mutant thereof.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a composition comprising abeta-glucosidase polypeptide of the present invention, or a biologicallyactive variant or fragment thereof.

Thus, one aspect of the present invention, relates to a compositioncomprising a beta-glucosidase polypeptide of the present invention asdefined previously herein. The composition preferably comprises acarrier/buffer. A non-limiting example of a suitable buffer is acitrate-phosphate buffer with pH in the range of 4 to 5.

Kit of Parts

The present invention in one aspect relates to a kit-of parts comprisingat least one polypeptide of the present invention, at least onerecombinant nucleic acid vector of the present invention, at least onerecombinant host cell of the present invention, at least one isolatedmicroorganism of the present invention, and/or at least one compositionof the present invention, and at least one additional component.

In one embodiment the additional component is selected from the groupconsisting of cellulase, endogluconase, cellobiohydrolase,beta-glucosidase, hemicellulase, esterase, laccase, protease andperoxidise.

In one embodiment the kit-of-parts comprises at least one additionalcomponent. Such additional component is for example selected fromenzymes degrading cellulose, such as endoglucanase, endo 1-4β-glucanase, cellobiohydrolase, exo-1-4 β-glucanase, β-glucosidase,enzymes degrading hemicellulose of both theO-acetyl-4-O-methylglucoronoxylan-type e.g endoxylanase,acetylxylane-esterase, α-glucuronidase, β-xylosidase, α-arabinosidase orthe O-acetylgalactoglucomannan-type such as endomannan, α-galactosidase,acetylglucomannan-esterase, β-mannosidase, β-glucosidase, enzymesdegrading lignin e.g. lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase, laccase),enzymes degrading pectin e.g. endo-polygalacturonidases,exo-polygalacturonidase, rhamno-galacuronidase, pectinlyase,rhamnogalacturonan-lyase, pectin-methylesterase,rhamnogalacturonanacetylesterase, oligo-galacturonan-lyase, enzymesdegrading starch such as α-amylase, β-amylase, isoamylase, pullulanase,α-1-6-glucanhydrolase) or any other reserve hydrocarbon such as, forexample but not exclusively, fructans, inulin, chitin, chitosan,planteose, legumin, xyloglucan, mannan or laminaran.

In a preferred embodiment, the additional component is endoglucanase (EC3.2.1.4). Another preferred embodiment, the additional component iscellobiohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.91).

It is appreciated that at least one, such as at least two, for exampleat least 3, such as at least 4, for example at least 5, such as at least6, for example at least 7, such as at least 8, for example at least 9additional components and that different groups of additional componentsmay be used in combination such as at least one endoglucanase and atleast one cellobiohydrolase.

In one embodiment, the at least one additional component is selectedfrom cellulases, such as Accellerase®, Celluclast®, Cellic CTec2®,and/or AcelleraseDUET®.

The components of the kit-of parts of the present invention are packagedor marked for use together.

In one embodiment, the kit-of-parts can contains two components in onecontainer, and a third component and any additional components in one ormore separate containers. Optionally, a kit-of-parts further containsinstructions for combining the components so as to formulate compositionsuitable for degradation or conversion of a cellulosic material, forhydrolyzing a polysaccharide and/or for fermenting a cellulosicmaterial.

The components of the kit-of-parts are preferably comprised inindividual compositions, it is however within the scope of the presentinvention that the components of the kit-of-parts all are comprisedwithin the same composition.

In one embodiment, the kit-of-parts preferably comprises an adjuvantand/or a carrier.

The choice of carrier depends on the specific use of the kit-of partsand will be obvious for those of skill in the art.

A carrier may be present independently of an adjuvant. The function of acarrier can for example be to increase the molecular weight of inparticular peptide fragments in order to confer stability, to increasethe biological activity, or to increase half-life.

The compositions provided by the kits-of-parts of the present inventionmay be used simultaneously or sequentially.

Additional Component

In the methods of the present invention for degrading a lignocellulosicmaterial, the lignocellulosic material may also be treated with at leastone additional component. Such additional component is for exampleselected from enzymes degrading cellulose, such as (endoglucanase, endo1-4 β-glucanase, cellobiohydrolase, exo-1-4 βglucanase, β-glucosidase),hemicellulose of both the O-acetyl-4-O-methylglucoronoxylan-type(endoxylanase, acetylxylane-esterase, α-glucuronidase, β-xylosidase,α-arabinosidase) or the O-acetylgalactoglucomannan-type (endomannan,α-galactosidase, acetylglucomannan-esterase, β-mannosidase,β-glucosidase), lignin (lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase,laccase), pectin (endo-polygalacturonidases, exo-polygalacturonidase,rhamno-galacuronidase, pectinlyase, rhamnogalacturonan-lyase,pectin-methylesterase, rhamnogalacturonanacetylesterase,oligo-galacturonan-lyase), starch (α-amylase, β-amylase, isoamylase,pullulanase, α-1-6-glucanhydrolase) or any other reserve hydrocarbonsuch as, for example but not exclusively, fructans, inulin, chitin,chitosan, planteose, legumin, xyloglucan, mannan or laminaran.

In a preferred embodiment, the additional component is endoglucanase (EC3.2.1.4). Another preferred embodiment, the additional component iscellobiohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.91). It is appreciated that at least one,such as at least two, for example at least 3, such as at least 4, forexample at least 5, such as at least 6, for example at least 7, such asat least 8, for example at least 9 additional components and thatdifferent groups of additional components may be used in combinationsuch as at least one endoglucanase and at least one cellobiohydrolase.

The products of the cellulosic material degradation or conversionmethods of the present invention may be used for a number of subsequentpurposes.

In one aspect of the invention, the glucose monosaccharide products areused in a method for fermenting a cellulosic material, said methodcomprising

-   -   a. treating the cellulosic material with at least one        polypeptide of the present invention, at least one recombinant        host cell of the present invention, at least one microorganism        of the present invention, at least one composition of the        present invention, at least one kit-of parts of the present        invention, and    -   b. incubating the treated cellulosic material with one or more        fermenting microorganisms.    -   c. obtaining at least one fermentation product

In one embodiment the fermentation product is at least one alcohol,inorganic acid, ketone, amino acid, organic acids, hydrocarbons and/orgas.

EXAMPLES

The following examples are provided by way of illustration only and notby way of limitation. Those of skill in the art will readily recognize avariety of noncritical parameters that could be changed or modified toyield essentially similar results. The examples are offered forillustrative purposes only, and are not intended to limit the scope ofthe present invention in any way. Efforts have been made to ensureaccuracy with respect to numbers used (e.g., amounts, temperatures,etc.), but some experimental error and deviation should, of course, beallowed for.

All publications and patent applications cited in this specification areherein incorporated by reference as if each individual publication orpatent application were specifically and individually indicated to beincorporated by reference.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art in light of the teachings of this invention that certain changesand modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spiritor scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Example 1 Discovery of a New Prominent Beta-Glucosidase ProducingAspergillus sp

Fungal Samples

This example comprises fungal samples from many different sources,including new isolations and “previously isolated fungi. Table 1specifies strain numbers, identity, identification method, origin, andreference of each sample. New fungal isolates were from soil anddecaying wood samples, isolated by multiple transfers on potato brothagar (PDA) plates supplemented with 50 ppm chloramphenicol and 50 ppmkanamycin, incubated at room temperature. Samples isolated in this workwere all identified by ITS sequencing, using the method described below.All fungi were grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA, Sigma) at roomtemperature and maintained in 10% glycerol at −80° C.

The following Aspergilli reference strains were kindly donated byProfessor Jens C. Frisvad, Technical University of Denmark: A. niger CBS554.65^(T) , A. homomorphus CBS 101889^(T) , A. aculeatinus CBS121060^(T) , A. aculeatus CBS 172.66^(T) , A. uvarum CBS 121591^(T), andA. japonuicus CBS 114.51^(T).

TABLE 1 Fungi included in the beta-glucosidase screening Identity(strain number) ID method¹ Origin Reference² Alternaria radicina (R27) MPoland K. Tylkowska A. radicina (R28) M Poland K. Tylkowska Alternariasp. (AS1-2) ITS Jamaica This work Amorphothea resinae (Anja) ITS DenmarkThis work Aspergillus sp (AP) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., )Aspergillus sp. (1259) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) A. fumigates(AS3-1) ITS Jamaica This work A. fumigatus (AS11-2) ITS Jamaica Thiswork A. fumigatus (AS11-3) ITS Jamaica This work A. fumigatus (AS12) ITSJamaica This work A. fumigatus (AS2-1) ITS Jamaica This work A.fumigatus (AS2-3) ITS Jamaica This work A. fumigatus (AS9-7) ITS JamaicaThis work A. fumigatus (AS11-4) ITS Jamaica This work A. niger (Hj1) ITSDenmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) A. niger (IBT25747) ITS Not knownThis work, (Sorensen et al., ) A. terreus (AS4-1) ITS Jamaica This workA. terreus (AS9-2) ITS Jamaica This work Chaetomium aureum (1165) MCosta Rica (Danielsen, 1997) C. globosum (11.4kont) ITS Denmark Thiswork, (Sorensen et al., ) Cladosporium sp. (1160) M Costa Rica(Danielsen, 1997) Cladosporium sp. (1209) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997)Cladosporium sp. (1195) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) Cladosporium sp.(1208) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) C. cladosporioides (2.1) ITSDenmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) Clonostachys rosea (IBT9371) M,UP-PCR Denmark (Bulat et al., 1998) C. rosea (Gr3) M, UP-PCR Denmark(Bulat et al., 1998) C. rosea (Gr5) M, UP-PCR Denmark (Bulat et al.,1998) Colletotrichum acutatum (9955) ITS Denmark T. Sundelin C. acutatum(F5-3) ITS Costa Rica (Schiller et al., 2006) C. acutatum (F7-1) ITSCosta Rica (Schiller et al., 2006) C. acutatum (Lupin1A) ITS Not knownT. Sundelin C. acutatum (SA2-2) ITS Denmark (Sundelin et al., 2005) C.gloeosporioides (2133A) ITS Denmark T. Sundelin Coprinopsis cinerea(AS2-2) ITS Jamaica This work Dreshlera sp. (1178) M Costa Rica(Danielsen, 1997) Fusarium sp. (3.012) M Denmark I. Weiergang Fusariumsp. (3.015) M Denmark I. Weiergang F. avenaceum/trincinctum (1.8.1) ITSDenmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) F. culmorum (IBT9615) M Norway(Tobiasen et al., 2007) F. equiseti (1236) M Costa Rica (Danielsen,1997) F. graminearum (1237) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) F.graminearum (NRRL31084) M USA (Tobiasen et al., 2007) F. graminearum(IBT9203) M Costa Rica (Tobiasen et al., 2007) F. moniliforme (1247) MCosta Rica (Danielsen, 1997) F. moniliforme (1258) M Costa Rica(Danielsen, 1997) F. oxysporum (1244) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) F.oxysporum f. sp. pisi (88.001) M Denmark I. Weiergang F. semitectum(1232) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) F. semitectum (1242) M Costa Rica(Danielsen, 1997) Nigrospora sp. (1168) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997)Penicillium sp. (1219) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) P. chrysogenum orP. commune (11.5) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) P.chrysogenum or P. commune (2.3A) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen etal., ) P. paneum (14) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) P.paneum (2.8) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) P. spinolosum(1.6) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) P. spinolosum (2.3B)ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) P. spinolosum (9.3.2) ITSDenmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) P. spinolosum (9.4.2) ITS DenmarkThis work, (Sorensen et al., ) P. swiecickii or P. raistrickii (11.4)ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., ) Pestalotiopsis sp. (1220) MCosta Rica (Danielsen, 1997) Pestalotiopsi sp. (1226) M Costa Rica(Danielsen, 1997) Rhizoctonia solani (CS96) M, UP-PCR Japan (Lubeck &Poulsen, 2001) R. solani (ST-11-6) M, UP-PCR Japan (Lubeck & Poulsen,2001) R. solani (AH-1) M, UP-PCR Japan (Lubeck & Poulsen, 2001) R.solani (RH165) M Japan (Lubeck & Poulsen, 2001) R. solani (GM10) M,UP-PCR Japan (Lubeck & Poulsen, 2001) Binuclear Rhizoctonia (S21) M USA(Lubeck & Poulsen, 2001) Binuclear Rhizoctonia (SN-1-2) M Japan (Lubeck& Poulsen, 2001) Rhizopus microsporum (AS1-1A) ITS Jamaica This work R.microsporum (AS1-1B) ITS Jamaica This work R. microsporum (AS2-4) ITSJamaica This work Spaeropsidales (1190) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997)Stenocarpella sp. (1198) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) Stenocarpellasp. (1214) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) Stenocarpella sp. (1239) MCosta Rica (Danielsen, 1997) Thielavia sp. (AS11-1) ITS Jamaica Thiswork Trichoderma harzianum (5.1) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen etal., ) T. harzianum (O7) M Costa Rica (Danielsen, 1997) T. harzianum(IBT9385) M, UP-PCR Sweden (Bulat et al., 1998) T. koningii (1211) MCosta Rica (Danielsen, 1997) T. koningii (CBS850.68) M, UP-PCR Germany(Bulat et al., 1998) T. virens (I10) ITS Italy (Sarrocco et al., 2006)T. viride (IBT8186) M, UP-PCR Denmark (Bulat et al., 1998) T.viridescens (7.1) ITS Denmark This work, (Sorensen et al., )¹Identification method: M = morphology, ITS = ITS and NCBI NCBI Blast ofsearch, UP-PCR = PCR finger printing ²Where names are found instead ofreference numbers, the fungal strains have not previously beenpublished, but identified by the person specified. Prof. KrystynaTylkowska, August Cheszkowski Agricultural University of Poznan, Poland.Thomas Sundelin, University of Copenhagen, DK. Inge Weiergang, MariboSeed, Nordzucker AG.Beta-Glucosidase Screening

For beta-glucosidase activity screening, three 0.5×0.5 cm squares werecut from PDA plates with 7 days old single fungal strains and incubatedin liquid culture of 20 g/l wheat bran (Finax), 20 g/l corn steep liquor(Sigma), 3 g/l NaNO₃, 1 g/l K₂HPO₄, 0.5 g/l KCl, 0.5 g/l MgSO₄7H₂O, 0.01g/l FeSO₄7H₂O in a Falcon tube set-up with 10 ml of media shaking (180rpm) at room temperature for another 7 days. The samples werecentrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min and the supernatants weresubsequently assayed for beta-glucosidase activity and protein content.

Beta-glucosidase assay was carried out using 5 mMp-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG) in 50 mM Na-Citrate bufferpH 4.8 as substrate for measuring beta-glucosidase activity. 15 μlsample and 150 μl substrate was incubated at 50° C. for 10 min in 200 μlPCR tubes in a thermocycler (Biorad); 30 μl of the reaction wastransferred to a microtiter plate already containing 50 μl M Na₂CO₃ fortermination of the reaction. Absorbance was read at 405 nm in a platereader (Dynex Technologies Inc.). pNP was used to prepare a standardcurve. One unit (U) of enzyme activity was defined as the amount ofenzyme needed to hydrolyze 1 μmol pNPG in 1 minute. Proteinquantification was done using the Pierce BCA protein assay kitmicroplate procedure according to manufacturer's instructions (PierceBiotechnology).

Identification of Fungi Using Sequencing of ITS1 Region

DNA extraction was carried out by the method of Dellaporta et al. 1983.using bead beating (2×20 sec) of fungal biomass in extraction buffer(500 mM NaCl, 100 mM Tris pH8, 50 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT) and 1×20 sec withSDS added to final concentration of 2%. Protein and cell debris wasprecipitated with potassium acetate at a final concentration of 1.4 M.DNA was precipitated with equal volumes of sample and 2-propanol,followed by washing with 70% ethanol, and finally resuspended in water.Two fungal primers ITS1 (5′ TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG 3′) and ITS2(5′GCTGCGTTCTTCATCGATGC 3′) that match the conserved 18S and 5.8S rRNAgenes, respectively, were used for the amplification of the non-codingIST1 region (White et al., 1990, Kumar et al., 2008). Approx 100 nggenomic DNA was used as template in a polymerase chain reaction with 1 Uproof reading WALK polymerase (A&A Biotechnology), PCR buffer (50 mMTris pH8, 0.23 mg/ml BSA, 0.5% Ficoll, 0.1 mM cresol red, 2.5 mM MgCl₂),0.2 mM of dNTP, 0.4 μM of each primer ITS1 and ITS2. Using athermocycler (BioRad), an initial denaturation step (94° C., 2 min) wasfollowed by 35 cycles of denaturation (94° C., 30 sec), annealing (60°C., 30 sec), and elongation (72° C., 1 min), and a final elongation step(72° C., 2 min) following the last cycle. All products were checked bygel electrophoresis for a band size of approx. 600 bp.

Depending on the purity of the sample, either GelOut or CleanUp wasperformed (EZNA kits from Promega) according to the manufacturer'sinstructions. DNA sequencing was performed by either MWG Eurofins,Germany or Starseq, Germany, directly sequencing the PCR products withthe ITS1 or ITS4 primer. The sequence data was submitted to the GenBankNCBI nucleotide NCBI Blast of search database for fungal identification.

Molecular Phylogeny

Phylogenetic analysis of the ITS1 region of the fungus AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus and different Aspergilli was carried out as described byVarga et al. (2007) and Samson et al. (2007). ClustalW multiplealignment was used for sequence alignment and manual improvement of thealignment was performed using BioEdit(http://www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/bioedit.html). The PHYLIP programpackage version 3.69 was used for preparation of phylogenetic trees(Felsenstein, 2004). The distance matrix of the data set was calculatedbased on the Kimura method (Kimura, 1983) using the program “Dnadist”.The phylogenetic tree was prepared by running the program “Neighbor”using the neighbor-joining method (Saitou & Nei, 1987) to obtain anunrooted trees. A. flavus was defined as the outgroup in the program“Retree”, and finally the tree was visualized using the program TreeView(win32) (Page, 1996). Bootstrap values (Felsenstein, 1985) werecalculated by running the program “Seqboot” to produce 1000 bootstrappeddata sets from the original data set. Again, “dnadist” with the Kimuramethod was used to prepare distance matrices of the multiple data sets,and “neighbor” with the neighbor-joining method to obtain unrooted treesof the multiple data sets. Finally, the bootstrap values were obtainedfrom the consensus tree which was identified by the majority-ruleconsensus method by running the program “Consense”.

Strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus, Culture Conditions and EnzymeExtract Preparation

The fungal strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus was grown on potatodextrose agar (Sigma) for sporulation. Spores were harvested after 7days of growth by adding sterile water to the plate and scrape on thesurface of the culture. The heavy spore suspension was filtered throughMyra cloth. Two ml of the spore solution was inoculated into 200 ml seedmedium (2.0 g/l wheat bran, 5 g/l corn steep powder, 0.25 g/l yeastextract, 0.75 g/l peptone, 1.4 g/l (NH₄)₂SO₄, 2.0 g/l KH₂PO₄, 0.4 g/lCaCl₂ 2H₂O, 0.3 g/l MgSO₄H₂O, 5.0 mg/l FeSO₄, 1.6 mg/l MnSO₄ 7H₂O, 1.4mg/l ZnSO₄ 7H₂O, 2.0 CoCl₂ 6H₂O) in an 500 ml Erlenmeyer flask, andincubated at 30° C. for 2 days, shaking at 160 rpm. Solid statefermentation at approximately 30% TS was carried out adding 100 ml ofthe cultivated seed medium to 1 l of a solid state fermentation mediumcomprising of 343 g wheat bran (TS of 87.4%), 9 g corn steep powder, 557ml Czapek liquid (3 g/l NaNO₃, 1 g/l K₂HPO₄, 0.5 g/l KCl, 0.5 g/l MgSO₄7H₂O, 0.01 g/l FeSO₄ 7H₂O) (Samson et al., 2004a). Incubation wascarried out in large flat boxes (20 cm×20 cm×5 cm) in order to allow alarge surface area where the fermentation media had a height of approx.2 cm. The samples were incubated at 30° C. without shaking. After 7 daysincubation, liquid was extracted from the medium by pressing the mediumby hand using gloves. The extract was centrifuged at 10000 g, and thesupernatant filtered through Whatman filter paper.

Beta-Glucosidase Activity Assays

In this work specific activity (U/mg) is defined as units per amount oftotal protein. Specific beta-glucosidase activity was measured using twodifferent substrates: pNPG and cellobiose. The assay using 5 mM pNPG inNaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 was performed as previously described; enzymesamples were assayed at different concentrations in triple determinationto ensure substrate saturation in the assay. The assay using 6 mMcellobiose in 50 mM NaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 was performed as follows: 15μl sample and 150 μl substrate was incubated at 50° C. for 10 min in PCRtubes in a thermocycler; 50 μl of the reaction was transferred to a HPLCvial already containing 1 ml 100 mM NaOH for termination of thereaction. The glucose concentration was measured at Dionex ICS3000 usinggradient elution: 0-20% eluent B (0.5M NaAcetate in 100 mM NaOH) in 13min followed by 2 min washing with 50% eluent B and 5 minre-equilibrating with 100% eluent A (100 mM NaOH). Samples were assayedat different concentrations in triple determination to ensure substratesaturation in the assay.

Kinetic Studies

For performing Michaelis-Menten kinetics beta-glucosidase activity wasmeasured as described above, but using different substrateconcentrations (pNPG 0.1-10 mM, cellobiose 0.2-18 mM), and with anenzyme dilution that ensured substrate saturation was reached withinthis range. Triple determinations were performed. A substrate saturationcurve was prepared by plotting substrate concentration [S] vs reactionrate, v. The Michealis Menten constants Km and Vmax were determined fromHanes-Wolf plots where substrate concentration [S] is plotted againstsubstrate concentration over reaction rate [S]/v, and the linearrelationship of the data gives a slope of 1/Vmax, a y-intercept ofKm/Vmax, and an x-intercept of −Km.

Glucose Tolerance

For testing glucose tolerance, 5 mM pNPG in NaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 wasused as substrate with different glucose amounts added, ranging finalglucose concentrations of 0-280 mM. The remaining activity (glucosetolerance) was measured spectrophotometrically by release of pNP at 50°C. reaction conditions, as described earlier. Triple determinations wereperformed. Using 20 mM cellobiose in NaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 assubstrate and glucose concentrations ranging from 0-120 mM, 15 μl sampleand 150 μl substrate with the different glucose concentrations wasincubated at 50° C. for 10 min in PCR tubes in a thermocycler; 100 μl ofthe reaction was transferred to a tube already containing 100 μl 200 mMNaOH for termination of the reaction. The reactions were further diluted512 times and final cellobiose concentration was measured at DionexICS3000 using gradient elution: 0-20% eluent B in 13 min followed by 2min washing with 50% eluent B (0.5 M NaAcetate in 100 mM NaOH) and 5 minre-equilibrating with 100% eluent A (100 mM NaOH). The activity wascalculated by the amount of cellobiose being hydrolyzed. Tripledeterminations were performed.

pH and Temperature Profile

For testing the thermostability of the enzyme extract, aliquots of theextracts were incubated in PCR tubes in a thermocycler with temperaturegradient option at 12 different temperatures from 48.5 to 67.0° C. fordifferent time periods (0-4 hours) followed by assaying the activity at50° C. with 5 mM pNPG in NaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 as substrate. The rateof denaturation, k_(D), was calculated as the slope of a semi-logaritmicplot of remaining activity vs incubation time. The half life wascalculated as: T_(1/2)=ln(2)/k_(D).

For testing the pH optimum of the enzyme extracts, they were assayed at50° C. with 5 mM pNPG in Citrate Phosphate buffer at different pHranging from 2.65 to 7.25. Endoglucanase activity of Celluclast 1.5 Lwas assayed with AZO-CMC as described by the manufacturer (Megazyme),but testing the same pH range 2.65-7.25 as for the pNPG assay.

Hydrolysis of Cellodextrins

Hydrolysis of cellohexaose was carried out by mixing, in the ratio 1:1,0.2 mM cellohexaose in 50 mM NaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 and enzyme dilutedin 50 mM NaCltrate buffer pH 4.8 to a concentration of 3.7 μg/ml. Thereaction was incubated at 50° C. and for a period of 30 min, 100 μlsample was placed on ice every 5 min. 100 μl 200 mM NaOH was added toterminate the reaction, and after another 1 fold dilution with 100 mMNaOH, the samples were analyzed at Dionex ICS3000 using gradientelution: 0-30% eluent B in 26 min followed by 2 min washing with 50%eluent B (0.5 M NaAcetate in 100 mM NaOH) and 5 min re-equilibratingwith 100% eluent A (100 mM NaOH).

Hydrolysis of Pretreated Bagasse

Pretreated bagasse was kindly provided by BioGasol, Denmark. The bagassehad been pretreated using wet explosion (personal communication withBioGasol). Bagasse hydrolysis was carried out in 2 ml Eppendorf tubes inthermoshaker heating blocks. The pretreated bagasse was hydrolyzed at 5%dry matter (DM) with a total enzyme load of 10 mg protein per g DM. Theratio amount of Celluclast 1.5 L vs extract from strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus or Novozym 188 was varied, ranging 0-100% of onecompared to the other. The hydrolysis was carried out at 50° C. for 24hours, using triple determinations. The samples were centrifuged andsupernatants filtered through 0.45 μm filters before sugar analysisusing the Ultimate 3000 HPLC (see below).

Analytical Equipment

DionexlCS-3000 equipped with an amperometric detector using a goldworking electrode and an Ag/AgCl pH reference electrode was used formeasuring glucose, cellobiose, and cellooligomers by ionexchangechromatography, acquiring and interpreting data with the Chromeleonsoftware (Dionex). 10 μl samples were run on a CarboPac PA1 column with100 mM NaOH as eluent A and 0.5 M NaAcetate in 100 mM NaOH as eluent B.Gradient runs were performed as described in the different assays, allat a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Standards of glucose, cellobiose, -triose,-tetraose, -pentaose, and -hexaose were run at concentrations 3.125μM-0.1 mM. Ultimate 3000 HPLC equipped with RI-101 detector (shodex) wasused for measuring glucose and cellobiose by high pressure liquidchromatography, acquiring and interpreting data with the Chromeleonsoftware (Dionex). 10 μl samples were run on a BIORAD aminex HPX-87H ionexclusion column, heated to 60° C., run with 4 mM H₂SO₄ as eluent atflow rate 0.6 ml/min. Standards of glucose and cellobiose were run atconcentration 0.5-20 g/l.

Results

Beta-Glucosidase Activities in Broad Screening Eighty six filamentousfungal strains, spanning 19 different fungal genera, were screened forextracellular beta-glucosidase activity using pNPG as substrate; most ofthe screened fungi belonging to the ascomycota phylum (Table 1). Thescreening showed a great variety in activity levels, with a few strainsbeing remarkably better than the others (FIG. 1). All producedextracellular beta-glucosidase, though for about 35% of the assayedfungi the activity was negligible (<0.1 μml). Some genus tendencies areseen, with Aspergillus, a few Fusarium, Penicillium, and Trichodermaviridescens showing greatest beta-glucosidase activity at the assayedconditions. Where several strains belonging to same species wereassayed, the variation at species level was in most cases insignificant,except for A. niger where a great variation was observed within the twostrains, the stain Hj1 showing approximately two times the activity ofstrain F1.

Strain number AP (identified as an Aspergillus sp or Aspergillussaccharolyticus) and strain number Hj1 (identified as an Aspergillusniger) showed significantly greater activity than all other strainsassayed at these conditions, with strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticusreaching more than ten times greater activity than the average of allthe stains assayed.

Identity of the Prominent Beta-Glucosidase Producing Aspergillus Sp.

Primers matching the conserved 18S and 5.8S rRNA genes were used for theamplification of the non-coding ITS1 region. A GenBank NCBI NCBI Blastof the ITS1 sequence of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus resultedin the closest hit being the black aspergilli, A. kanagawaensis, A.parvulus, A. cervinus, A. aculeatus, A. violaceofucus, A. japonicus, andA. bahamensis, but only with an identity of 81-79%.

Strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus was phylogenetically studied bypreparing a phylogenetic tree of the ITS1 region of strainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus, some of the aspergilli mentioned aboveas well as other selected aspergilli in the section Nigri based on thework by Samson et al (2007) (FIG. 2). This placed AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus on its own branch far from the other aspergilli. Thislow percentage identity of the strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticuscompared to the data in the NCBI database and its location on a separatebranch in the phylogenetic tree, clearly indicaties that the strainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus is an unknown species.

Aspergillus Screening

The beta-glucosidase activity of the prominent Aspergillus sp (strainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus) was compared to neighbor Aspergilli inthe submerged fermentation set up using wheat bran as growth medium asdescribed in the screening. A. niger was specifically included as thisfungus is a known and industrially used beta-glucosidase producer(Dekker, 1986). Based on the phylogenetic tree, the data is arranged sothe column furthest from strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus is themost distantly related strain in this Aspergillus screening. At theconditions tested, AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus produces significantlygreater amount of beta-glucosidase activity (FIG. 3). The protein levels(data not shown) in the assayed extracts did not vary much compared tothe difference seen in enzyme activity. Relative to the other Aspergillitested, strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus is therefore morespecialized towards beta-glucosidase productions at the testedconditions.

Potential of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus enzyme extractcompared with commercial enzymes

A solid state fermentation extract of the strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus was compared to the commercially available Novozym 188,Celluclast 1.5 L, and Cellic CTec (Novozymes AS, Denmark). Solid statefermentation was chosen to obtain as concentrated an extract aspossible. In the previous screening, pNPG activity of 6.6 U/ml (FIG. 3)and specific activity of 3.1 U/mg total protein (data not shown) wereobtained for the submerged fermentation of strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus. With the solid state fermentation, a pNPG activity of105 U/ml and a specific activity of 5.7 U/mg total protein wereobtained. The volume based activity is naturally increased as the watercontent of solid state is severely reduced compared to submergedfermentation. However, there is no definite conclusion whether thedifference in specific activity (U/mg protein) is due to the solid statefermentation favoring the expression of specifically beta-glucosidaseproteins or whether the wheat bran proteins in the extracts originatingfrom the medium make up a larger percentage of the total proteinsmeasured in one case compared to the other and thereby cause thedifference observed in specific activity.

As the enzyme extract of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus isintended for use in combination with Celluclast 1.5 L for completehydrolysis of cellulosic biomasses, the working pH must match the pHprofile of Celluclast 1.5 L cellulose activity. Within pH 4.5-6Celluclast activity stays above 90% of maximum activity measured (FIG.4). The pH span of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticusbeta-glucosidase was examined using pNPG as substrate. Its profile isvery similar to Novozym 188, with an optimum around pH 4.2 (FIG. 4).Within the pH range 3.8-4.8 the activity stays above 85% of maximum. pH4.8 generally used in hydrolysis experiments with Celluclast 1.5 L andNovozym 188 is therefore also valid for the AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus extract with beta-glucosidases.

Enzyme kinetics are preferably carried out on pure enzyme preparations,but are in this study used for the comparison of the beta-glucosidasesof the crude enzyme extract of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus andthe commercial enzyme preparation Novozym 188 and Cellic CTec. Anyparameter expressed per amount of protein is always total proteincontent in the extract or commercial enzyme preparation, with nospecific knowledge of how large a fraction that is beta-glucosidaseproteins. Kinetic analysis was performed on both pNPG and cellobiose,measuring the specific activity at different substrate concentrations.By plotting reaction rate vs. substrate concentration, it was found thatfor all three samples, strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus, Novozym188 and Cellic CTec, the hydrolysis of pNPG only follows MM kinetics atlow substrate concentrations, while evidence of substrate inhibition ortransglycosylation is found at higher concentrations, seen by a decreasein reaction rate with increased substrate concentration (data no shown).With regards to cellobiose, no substrate inhibition was observed withinthe substrate concentrations tested. The MM kinetics parameters, Vmaxand Km, were therefore only determined for cellobiose. The enzymeextract from strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus and the commercialpreparation Novozym 188 have similar affinity for cellobiose; and valuesbeing slightly better than Cellic CTec (Table 2), the lower the Kmvalues the better the affinity. The maximum activity is, however,highest for Cellic CTec, but with strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticusbeing better than Novozym 188.

TABLE 2 Kinetic properties of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus,Novozym 188, and Cellic CTec with cellobiose as substrate for MMkinetics study Vmax Km U/mg mM Strain AP 11.3 1.09 Novozym 188  7.5 1.06Cellic CTec 22.9 1.69

Product inhibition was found to be substrate dependent, especially forstrain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus beta-glucosidases (FIG. 5). UsingpNPG as substrate, strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticusbeta-glucosidases remain an activity of >80% at product concentrations12 times higher than the substrate concentration. Cellic CTec isslightly lower (approx 75%), while the activity of Novozym 188 at thisproduct-substrate ratio has dropped to just below 40%. The activities ofstrainAP, Cellic CTec, and Novozym 188 is calculated to reach half themaximum activity at concentrations 180, 115, and 60 mM glucose (equal to36×, 23×, and 12× the substrate concentration), respectively. Withregards to cellobiose, an activity drop to around 80% is found for bothStrain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus and Novozym 188 when the productand substrate occur in equal concentrations. Over all, the profile ofsubstrate inhibition is identical for strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus and Novozym 188 when using cellobiose as substrate,while with pNPG, strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus beta-glucosidasesperform much better at high inhibitor concentrations than Novozym 188.This glucose inhibition study demonstrates the importance of testing thetrue substrate, cellobiose, and not just rely on pNPG data.

The thermostability of the enzymes was examined at temperatures rangingfrom 48.5 to 67.0° C. using pNPG as substrate. At temperatures up to 58°C. there was no significant difference between strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus and Novozym 188 in terms of stability; both were fairlystable throughout the four hours of incubation (data not shown).Meanwhile, the beta-glucosidases of Cellic CTec were much more sensitiveto temperature increases. At temperatures 60° C., strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus beta-glucosidases are clearly more stable than Novozym188, and Cellic CTec is uncompetitive with any of them as it is severelyinactivated even within the first half hour (FIG. 6). At 60.7° C., 65%of the activity remains for strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticusbeta-glucosidases after 4 hours of incubation, while only 33% activityremains for Novozym 188. The inactivation roughly followed first orderkinetics, with the rate constants of denaturation, k_(D), defined by theslopes of the lines in a semi-logaritmic plot of the remaining activityvs. time for the different temperatures, and the half-life calculated asT_(1/2)=ln(2)/k_(D). The calculated half-life of strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus at 60.7° C. was 440 min vs 180 min for Novozym 188. Toreach a half-life of 180 min for Cellic CTec, the temperature should belowered to around the tested 55.8° C., while for strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus the temperature could be raised to around the tested62.9° C.

Cellooligomers were Used to Make a Hydrolytic Time Course Study ofStrain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus extract, Novozym 188, Celluclast1.5 L, and Cellic CTec (FIG. 7). Strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticusenzyme extract show clear exo-activity, with a cellopentaose and glucoseconcentration increase as the cellohexaose concentration decreased. Lessrapidly, the cellotetraose and cellotriose concentrations increase too.Evidence of endo-activity or cellobiohydrolase activity is found, as thecellobiose concentration goes up relatively fast compared to thecellotetraose and cellotriose. On the contrary, Novozym 188 only showsbeta-glucosidase exo-activity, with the only significant change overtime being glucose and cellopentaose increase as cellohexaose decrease.The results suggest that the beta-glucosidases act by capturing thesubstrate, cleave the glycosidic bond, and release the products. They donot continuously cleave one bond after another upon capturing thesubstrate. Celluclast 1.5 L mainly possess cellobiohydrolase andendoglucanase activity, seen by the immediate increase in cellobiose andcellotriose, and lacking sufficient beta-glucosidase activity as theglucose concentration does not increase but the cellobiose concentrationincreases continually. As the only sample, Cellic CTec showedcontinuously increase in both cellobiose and glucose, indicating acombination of cellobiohydrolase and beta-glucosidase activity.Endoglucanase activity is most likely present too, identified by theformation of cellotriose.

Pretreated bagasse was hydrolyzed by strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus beta-gucosidases combined with Celluclast 1.5 L toinvestigate its capabilities on a lignocellulosic substrate. This iscompared with hydrolysis data of Novozym 188 and Celluclast 1.5 L.Strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus beta-glucosidases and Novozym 188beta-glucosidases are compared on total protein amount basis. Adosage-response plot of hydrolysis of 5% DM pretreated bagasse showed aleveling off in glucose yields at total enzyme dosages greater than 10mg/gDM (data not shown). This total enzyme dosage was used for optimalenzyme ratio determination; the ratio of Celluclast 1.5 L and StrainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus extract or Novozym 188. The greatestyields were found with approximately 20% Novozym 188 (80% Celluclast 1.5L) and 15% strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus extract (85% Celluclast1.5 L) (FIG. 8). Generally, the glucose yields were higher when usingstrain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus extract compared with Novozym 188,illustrating the possibility of substituting the commercial enzymepreparation with an extract from our newly isolated Aspergillus strainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus. These results for bagasse hydrolysiscorrelate well with the fact that the beta-glucosidases of strainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus extract has a higher reaction rate oncellobiose (Vmax, Table 2) compared to Novozym 188.

Discussion

Traditionally, two commonly used enzyme preparations that supplementeach other in the hydrolysis of cellulosic biomasses are Novozym 188 andCelluclast 1.5 L (Novozymes AS, Denmark), contributing withbeta-glucosidase activity, and endoglucanase and cellobiohydrolaseactivity, respectively (Berlin et al., 2005). Recently, an enzymepreparation containing all three components has been released into themarket, Cellic CTec (Novozymes AS, Denmark). Costs related to enzymatichydrolysis make this step a bottle neck in the process of creating asugar plat form for biofuels, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals; thereforethere is a need for more efficient enzymes, both in terms of reactionrates and stability (Berlin et al., 2005). Beta-glucosidases are widelydistributed in nature, with especially fungi known to be industrialproducers of these enzymes for cellulose hydrolysis. In this study, wepresent a prominent fungal beta-glucosidase producer naturally producingan enzyme cocktail with better beta-glucosidases compared to thecommercial preparation Novozym 188 and markedly better thermostabilythan both Novozym 188 and Cellic CTec.

The work builds on a broad screening of 86 fungal strains collected bythe authors as well as an in house collection of fungi kindly donated byvarious scientists. To our knowledge, broad screenings of fungalextracts for beta-glucosidase activity are not frequently published, inpublication by Sternberg et at. (1977), 200 fungal strains were searchedamongst for a strain producing large quantities of beta-glucosidasesthat could supplement the Trichoderma virile cellulases for cellulosesaccharification. Generally, black Aspergilli were found to be superiorin terms of beta-glucosidase production (Sternberg et al., 1977). Later,a study focusing on identification of acid- and thermotolerantextracellular beta-glucosidase activities in zygomycetes fungi waspublished were Rhizomucor miehei performed best (Tako et al., 2010).Screening for general cellulase activities in few cases includebeta-glucosidase activities (Djarwanto & Tachibana, 2009, Jahangeer etal., 2005, Krogh et al., 2004, Pedersen et al., 2009), and otherstrategies for obtaining beta-glucosidases have been employed such asscreening environmental DNA for beta-glucosidase activity rather thancollecting microbial samples (Kim et al., 2007b), and a proteomicsstrategy to discover beta-glucosidases from Aspergillus fumigatus hasbeen reported (Kim et al., 2007a). In this work, wheat bran was used assubstrate in a submerged fermentation, as it is generally known as agood substrate for cellulases and beta-glucosidase production (Jager etal., 2001, Leite et al., 2008), being rich in carbohydrates and protein(Kent & Evers, 1994), and submerged fermentation allows for easyassaying of the extracellular enzymes of the fungi. The supernatantswere tested for beta-glucosidase activity using pNPG at 50° C. pH4.8;which are optimal conditions for Celluclast 1.5 L, thus aiming atfinding enzyme activities supplementing this enzyme preparation.

It was found that especially strains from the genera Aspergillus,Fusarium, Penicillium, and Trichoderma had the highest beta-glucosidaseactivity, with strains of Aspergillus being the best. These fungalgenera have also been found in other screening programs for discovery ofcellulolytic enzymes (Jahangeer et al., 2005, Sohail et al., 2009).Aspergilli in general have a high capacity for producing and secretingextracellular enzymes (Ward et al., 2006, de Vries & Visser, 2001),especially A. niger, with all classes of enzymes essential for cellulosedegradation having been found amongst Aspergilli (de Vries & Visser,2001). Within the A. fumigati strains, the expression level ofbeta-glucosidases at the tested conditions were very consistent, whilegreat strain variation was found in A. niger (FIG. 1). This variationwas not surprising as it correlates well with publications on citricacid, antioxidant, and urease production in A. niger, which is also verystrain dependent (Ali, 2004, Kawai et al., 1994, Ghasemi et al., 2004).

Several studies have been published on the kinetics of Novozym 188 andA. niger beta-glucosidases, and it is apparent that substrate affinity,Km, does vary amongst strains within this species (Jager et al., 2001,Eyzaguirre et al., 2005, Krogh et al., 2010, Seidle et al., 2004).However, most common amongst the A. niger beta-glucosidases is that theyhave greater affinity for pN PG than for cellobiose; Jager et al. (2001)report similar findings for other Aspergillus strain beta-glucosidases(Jager et al., 2001). We have, however, chosen to only calculate MMkinetics parameters related to hydrolysis of cellobiose as hydrolysisdata of pNPG did not fit the MM equation. It is speculated that pNPGactually is a poor substitute in terms of assaying for beta-glucosidaseactivity, which was also concluded by e.g. Khan et al. 1985, andespecially in this study it was additionally evident in relation toproduct inhibition. To compare activities, it is always desired toperform measurements at substrate saturation; however, with pNPG thesaturation point could not be determined as substrate inhibition was thedominating factor at high substrate concentrations which correlates withstudies carried out by Dekker (1986) and Eyzaguirre et al. (2005). Astransglycosylation activity has been reported in several cases fordifferent beta-glucosidases (Bhatia et al., 2002) it was speculated ifthe proposed substrate inhibition was rather a transglycosylationreaction at high product concentrations. However, the option of theenzyme carrying out transglycosylation by coupling the glucose productto a new pNPG at high pNPG concentrations was not investigated whichcould potentially mimic substrate inhibition in data evaluation. Theeffect of pNPG substrate inhibition or transglycosylation reaction onthe measured reaction rates in the beta-glucosidase screening strategywas a factor that was not taken into account. However, the significanceof the elevated activity of stain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticusbeta-glucosidase compared to all other assayed fungi would most likelybe evident even had this been taken into account.

Product inhibition is a common phenomenon with beta-glucosidases;glucose being the main inhibitor, which can have a significant influencefor process reaction in industrial applications (Berlin et al., 2005).The importance of testing such inhibitory effects on the true substrate,cellobiose, rather than the substitute, pNPG, was demonstrated in thisstudy, as the beta-glucosidases of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticuscompared to Novozym 188 only showed low inhibition by glucose using pNPGas substrate, but when using cellobiose, the inhibition patterns of thetwo enzyme preparations were similar, with the activities only reaching50% when twice the concentration of glucose is present compared tocellobiose concentration (FIG. 5). pNPG is an easy-to-use substrate, butcan be misguiding in terms of beta-glucosidase performance in true “reallife” hydrolysis conditions.

The extract of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus showed greaterspecific beta-glucosidase activity than Novozym 188, while that ofCellic CTec was found to be even greater (Table 2). The enzymepreparations were evaluated on basis of total extracellular proteins,which, however, also comprise proteins originating from the growthmedium. It is therefore unknown how much of the measured protein isactually fungal proteins. Furthermore Aspergilli strains are known topossess several beta-glucosidases that can have different relativeactivities and specificities, e.g. three beta-glucosidases from A.aculeatus have been assayed with the findings that one has very weak andthe two other very high activities towards cellobiose relative to pNPG(Sakamoto et al., 1985). The beta-glucosidase activity of the screenedextract is therefore very likely the combined activity of severalbeta-glucosidases of the strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus. Withoutfurther optimization, the specific activity of the solid statefermentation extract of strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus was ableto compete with Novozym 188 in hydrolysis of cellobiose, and in the caseof cellohexaose the rate by which the cellohexaose concentrationdecreased and the glucose and cellopentaose increase was greatet forstrain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus than Novozym 188. Increasing thedegree of complexity and potential amount of inhibitors, etc, bagasse isone of many cellulose containing biomasses of interest for bioethnaolpurposes. Bagasse is a lignocellulosic waste product from the sugar caneindustry produced in great quantities in countries such as Brazil andother tropical places (Soccol et al., 2010). Its utilization for fuelproduction is value contributing to the current processes (Leite et al.,2009). Hydrolysis of bagasse was here used to show that our stainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus enzyme extract supplemented withCelluclast (FIG. 8), did work on actual lignocellulosic material and wascompetitive with Novozym 188.

Thermostability and temperature optima presented in differentpublications are difficult to compare as the incubation time, reactiontime, and temperatures tested vary. Generally, the dependence oftemperature resembles a bell-shaped curve, with a maximum where theenzyme is actually not at its optimum as the maximum indicates thebeginning of the irreversible denaturation process (Bisswanger, 2008).This method of directly assaying at different temperatures to determinethe temperature profile is of no real use in terms of industrialhydrolysis as hydrolysis reactions are usually run for several hours andtime dependent enzyme degradation will play a role. By pre-incubatingthe enzymes at distinct temperatures and assaying after different timeintervals at normal assay temperatures, the beta-glucosidases of strainAP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus were found to have excellent temperaturestability compared to Novozym 188 (FIG. 6). Novozym 188 has previouslybeen reported to only maintain stability at temperatures at or below 50°C. (Krogh et al., 2010). Cellic CTec was found to be very unstable atelevated temperatures observed by the poor performance when assaying foractivity after incubation above 50° C., which relates to themanufactures instructions of best performance at temperauters 40-50° C.(Novozymes A/S, 2010). The time course of the inactivation of allenzymes approximately followed a first order reaction from which thedenaturation rates and half-lives at the different temperatures could becalculated, confirming the dominating status of strain AP/Aspergillussaccharolyticus beta-glucosidases in terms of thermostability.

In this work, a potential yet unidentified species has been identified:strain AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus, belonging to the Aspergillusnigri group. This stain had significantly greater beta-glucosidasepotential than all other fungi screened and was shown to be a validsubstitute for Novozym 188, even performed better than Novozym 188 insome aspects, and definitely out-competed Cellic CTec in terms ofthermostability.

Example 2 Aspergillus Saccharolyticus Sp. Nov., a New Black AspergillusSpecies Isolated on Treated Oak Wood in Denmark

During a broad screening of different fungal strains collected inDenmark for prominent beta-glucosidase producing fungi (EXAMPLE 1), wediscovered a uniseriate Aspergillus, morphologically similar to A.japonicus. However, both molecular data and an extrolite profile showedthat this fungus differed significantly from known aspergilli fromsection Nigri. In this example we describe the relationship of thisstrain to other black aspergilli using the polyphasic approach withstudies of ITS, calmodulin, and beta-tubulin sequence phylogeny, UP-PCRfinger printing, macro- and micro-morphology, temperature tolerance, andextrolite production.

Materials and Methods

A strain of a novel species, Aspergillus saccharolyticus, was isolatedin door from treated oak wood in Denmark. The isolate was maintained onpotato dextrose agar at room temperature. All reference strains andaccession numbers used for comparison are listed in Table 3.

TABLE 3 GenBank accession numbers of sequence data used to prepare thephylogenetic trees ITS Beta-tubulin Calmodulin A. niger CBS 554.65^(T)AJ223852 AY585536 AJ964872 A. tubingensis CBS 134.48^(T) AJ223853AY820007 AJ964876 A. japonicus CBS 114.51^(T) AJ279985 AY585542 AJ964875A. aculeatus CBS 172.66^(T) AJ279988 AY585540 AJ964877 A. foetidus CBS565.65 AJ280009 AY585533 FN594547 A. brasiliensis CBS 101740^(T)AJ280010 AY820006 AM295175 A. heteromorphous CBS 117.55^(T) AJ280013AY585529 AM421461 A. ellipticus CBS 707.79^(T) AJ280014 AY585530AM117809 A. vadensis CBS 113363^(T) AY585549 AY585531 EU163269 A.ibericus CBS 121593^(T) AY656625 AM419748 AJ971805 A. costaricaensis CBS115574^(T) DQ900602 AY820014 EU163268 A. piperis CBS 112811^(T) DQ900603AY820013 EU163267 A. lacticoffeatus CBS 101883^(T) DQ900604 AY819998EU163270 A. carbonarius CBS 111.26^(T) DQ900605 AY585532 AJ964873 A.sclerotioniger CBS 115572^(T) DQ900606 AY819996 EU163271 A. homomorphusCBS 101889^(T) EF166063 AY820015 AM887865 A. aculeatinus CBS 121060^(T)EU159211 EU159220 EU159241 A. sclerotiicarbonarius EU159216 EU159229EU159235 CBS 121057^(T) A. uvarum CBS 121591^(T) AM745757 AM745751AM745755 A. aculeatus CBS 114.80 AJ280005 AY585539 AM419750 A.saccharolyticus CBS 127449^(T) HM853552 HM853553 HM853554 A. flavus CBS100927^(T) AF027863 AY819992 AY974341Molecular Analysis

Fungal biomass for DNA extraction was obtained by scraping the surfaceof a PDA plate with a seven day old colony. DNA extraction was carriedout as described by (Yu & Mohn, 1999), using bead beating for celldisruption. The two fungal primers Bt2a (5′ GGTAACCAAATCGGTGCTGCTTTC)and Bt2b (5′ ACCCTCAGTGTAGTGACCCTTGGC) were used to amplify a fragmentof the beta-tubulin gene (Glass & Donaldson, 1995), while the primersCmd5 (5′CCGAGTACAAGGAGGCCTTC) and Cmd6 (5′ CCGATAGAGGTCATAACGTGG) wereused to amplify a segment of the calmodulin gene (Hong et al., 2006),and the primers ITS1 (5′ TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG) and ITS4 (5′TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATG) were used to amplify the ribosomal rDNA spacers,ITS1 and ITS2 (White et al., 1990). Phylogenetic analysis of thebeta-tubulin, calmodulin, and internal transcribed spacer region of rRNA(ITS1 and ITS2) sequences of the novel isolate was carried out asdescribed by Varga et al. (2007), using the beta-tubulin, calmodulin,and ITS region sequences of the aspergilli presented in the article bySamson et al (Samson et al., 2007). ClustalW multiple alignment was usedfor sequence alignment and manual improvement of the alignment wasperformed using BioEdit (http://www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/bioedit.html).The PHYLIP program package version 3.69 was used for preparation ofphylogenetic trees (Felsenstein, 2004). The distance matrix of the dataset was calculated based on the Kimura method (Kimura, 1983) using theprogram “Dnadist”. The phylogenetic tree was prepared by running theprogram “Neighbor” using the neighbor-joining method (Saitou & Nei,1987) to obtain unrooted trees. A. flavus was defined as the outgroup inthe program “Retree”, and finally the tree was visualized using theprogram TreeView (win32) (Page, 1996). Bootstrap values (Felsenstein,1985) were calculated by running the program “Seqboot” to produce 1000bootstrapped data sets from the original data set. Again, “dnadist” withthe Kimura method was used to prepare distance matrices of the multipledata sets, and “neighbor” with the neighbor-joining method to obtainunrooted trees of the multiple data sets. Finally, the bootstrap valueswere obtained from the consensus tree which was identified by themajority-rule consensus method by running the program “Consense”.

UP-PCR fingerprinting was carried out using two different UP primers,L45 (5′ GTAAAACGACGGCCAGT) and L15/AS19 (5′ GAGGGTGGCGGCTAG) (Lubeck etal., 1999) for DNA amplification in separate reactions. Theamplification was performed as described in Lübeck et al. (1999) exceptthat the reactions were carried out in a 25 μl volume containing 50 mMTris pH8, 0.23 mg/ml BSA, 0.5% Ficoll, 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 0.2 mM of dNTP, 0.4μM of primer and 1 U RUN polymerase (A&A Biotechnology, Poland).

Morphological Analysis

For microscopic analysis, microscopic mounts were made in lactophenolfrom colonies grown on MEA (malt extract autolysate) and OA (oat mealagar).

For investigation of morphological characteristics, a dense sporesuspension of A. saccharolyticus was three-point inoculated on thefollowing media: CREA (creatine sucrose), CYA (Czapek yeast autolysate),CY20S (CYA with 20% sucrose), CY40S (CYA with 40% sucrose), CYAS (CYAwith 50 g/l NaCl), MEA (malt extract autolysate), OA (oat meal agar) andYES (yeast extract sucrose) agar (Samson et al., 2004a), and incubated 7days in the dark at 25° C. For temperature tolerance analysis,three-point inoculating was performed on CYA and incubated 7 days in thedark at different temperatures: room temp, 30° C., 33° C., 36° C., and40° C.

Extrolite Analysis

Three 6 mm diameter plugs were taken from each strain grown asthree-point inoculations in the dark at 25° C. for 7 and 14 days on YES,CYA20, CYA40, PDA, CYA media (Samson et al., 2004a, Nielsen et al.,2009). The plugs were transferred to a 2-mL vial and 1.4 mL of ethylacetate containing 1% formic acid was added. The plugs were placed in anultra sonication bath for 60 min. The ethyl acetate was transferred to anew vial in which the organic phase was evaporated to dryness byapplying nitrogen airflow at 30° C. The residues were re-dissolved byultrasonication for 10 min in 150 μL ACN/H₂O (1:1, v/v) mixture.

HPLC-UV/VIS-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) analysis wasperformed with an Agilent 1100 system (Waldbronn, Germany) equipped witha diode array detector and coupled to a Micromass LCT (Micromass,Manchester, U.K.) equipped with an electrospray (ESI) (Nielsen et al.,2009, Nielsen & Smedsgaard, 2003). Separations of 2 μL samples wasperformed on a 50×2 mm inner diameter, 3 μm Luna C₁₈∥ column(Phenomenex, Torrance, Calif.) using a linear water-ACN gradient at aflow of 0.300 ml/min with 15-100% ACN in 20 min followed by a plateau at100% ACN for 3 min (Nielsen et al., 2009). Both solvents contained 20 mMformic acid. Samples were analyzed both in ESI⁻ and ESI⁺ mode.

For compound identification, each peak was matched against an internalreference standard database (˜800 compounds) (Nielsen et al., 2009,Nielsen & Smedsgaard, 2003). Other peaks were tentatively identified bymatching data from previous studies in our lab and searching theaccurate mass in the ˜13 500 fungal metabolites reported in Antibase2010 (Laatsch, 2010).

Results and Discussion

In a screening program, fungal strains were obtained from differentenvironmental habitats, Danish as well as international, and tested forbeta-glucosidase activity (EXAMPLE 1). Some of the strains were found indoor in Denmark on treated oak wood, and one of these strains showed anextraordinary good beta-glucosidase activity. In this example, athorough characterization was carried out in order to identify thestrain.

Morphological data showed that the strain was related to A. japonicus orA. aculeatus, but extrolite profiles and DNA sequencing data showed thatthe strain clearly was different from all known species. The geneticrelatedness of this novel species, A. saccharolyticus, to other blackaspergilli was investigated by comparing sequence data of parts of thebeta-tubulin and calmodulin genes as well as the ITS region, using A.flavus as the out group. The black aspergilli chosen for comparison arethe same as the ones presented by Samson et al. (2007). Phylogetic treeswere prepared for A. saccharolyticus based on these sequence data anddata obtained in this work, with especially the ITS and calmodulinsequence trees showing similar topology (FIGS. 9, 10, and 11). Based onthe phylogenetic analysis of the ITS and calmodulin gene sequence data,A. saccharolyticus was with high bootstrap values found to belong to theGlade with A. homomorphus, A. aculeatinus, A. uvarum, A. japonicus, andboth A. aculeatus strains, while for the beta-tubulin gene sequence dataA. saccharolyticus clustered with A. homomorphus, A. aculeatinus, A.uvarum, and A. aculeatus CBS 114.80. The separate grouping in thebeta-tubulin tree of A. japonicus and A. aculeatus CBS 172.66^(T) hasconsistently been shown in other publications (Varga et al., 2007,Samson et al., 2007, Noonim et al., 2008, de Vries et al., 2005, Samsonet al., 2004b). For all three loci, A. saccharolyticus is placed on itsown branch far from the other species in the Glade supported by themajority-rule consensus analysis for all three loci and high bootstrapvalues for the beta-tubulin and calmodulin loci, but low bootstrap value(51%) for the ITS locus. Sequence alignment revealed that amongst thespecies from section Aculeati that are in Glade with A. saccharolyticus,interspecific sequence divergences are ≦0.7%, 7.1%, and 5.7% for theITS, calmodulin, and beta-tubulin regions, respectively. Meanwhile, theinterspecific sequence divergences in the ITS, calmodulin, andbeta-tubulin region between A. saccharolyticus and the other species inthe Glade are on average 12.9±0.6%, 20±0.5%, and 15.4±1.2%,respectively. The variation in sequence data observed between A.saccharolyticus and A. homomorphus is the same as the variation betweenA. homomorphus and the smaller clade(s) of A. aculeatinus, A. uvarum, A.japonicus, and both A. aculeatus strains. Searching the NCBI databasedoes not give any closer genetic match. Based on this, there is a cleargenetic foundation for proposing the new species, A. saccharolyticus.

Furthermore, this strain could readily be distinguished from other blackaspergilli by Universally Primed-PCR analysis using each of the two UPprimers, L45 and L15/AS19 (Supplementary Figure S3). UP-PCR is a PCRfingerprinting method that has demonstrated its applicability indifferent aspects of mycology. These applications constitute analysis ofgenome structures, identification of species, analysis of population andspecies diversity, revealing of genetic relatedness at infra- andinter-species level, and identification of UP-PCR markers at differenttaxonomic levels (strain, group and/or species) (Lübeck & Lübeck, 2005).Each of the analyzed aspergilli, A. saccharolyticus, A. aculeatinus, A.ellipticus, A. homomorphus, A. niger, A. uvarum, A. aculeatus and A.japonicus, produced a unique banding profile, and did not share anybands (FIG. 12). This is an illustration of clearly separated species,as strains within a species should at least have some similarities intheir banding profiles (Lübeck & Lübeck, 2005).

The extrolite profiles further showed that A. saccharolyticus producedthe largest chemical diversity on YES agar (25° C.), whereas CYA (25 and30° C.), and CYAS, CY20S, CY20, CY40S, and PDA (all at 25° C.) yieldedfewer peaks. The results further showed that it is a new species sinceit does not share any metabolites with other species in the Nigrisection where e.g. the naphto-γ-pyrones are consistently produced(Nielsen et al., 2009) and only two compounds, ACU-1 and ACU-2, withseries Aculeati (Table 4 and FIG. 13) whereas the well known compoundsfrom the series: neooxaline, secalonic acids, cycloclavine andaculeasins were not detected (Parenicova et al., 2001). I addition, noneof the 12 detected peaks matched with the approx. 13500 fungalextrolites in Antibase2010 (Laatsch, 2010) thus providing that thespecies had not been investigated by natural products chemists.

TABLE 4 Physiological features and extrolite production by the strainsof uniseriate species in Aspergillus section Nigri Growth at Growth 37°C. on CYAS on CYA Species (diam, mm) (diam, mm) Extrolites Asaccharolyticus sp. nov. 11-14  7-14 12 compounds not described in (CBS127449^(T)) the literature* including ACU-1** and ACU-2** A aculeatinus37-54 18-52 Aculeasins, neoxaline, secalonic (CBS 121060^(T), CBS acid D& F 121875, IBT 29275) A aculeatus 0-4 15-26 Secalonic acid D & F,ACU-1** (CBS 172.66^(T)) and ACU-2** A japonicus 0  8-25 Cycloclavine,festuclavine (CBS 114.51^(T), IBT 29329, IBT 26338, ITEM 4497) A uvarum54-73 11-14 Asterric acid, dihydrogeodin, (CBS 121591^(T), ITEM 4834;erdin, geodin, secalonic acid ITEM 4856; ITEM 5024) D & F *No matchesfound among the 13 500 fungal metabolites listed in Anitbase2010.**ACU-1 and ACU-2 unidentified compounds with UV max 242 nm (100%) and346 (88%) with mono isotopic masses of 315.1799 and 218.1268 Darespectively.

Morphologically, A. saccharolyticus is most closely related to A.japonicus (FIG. 14), but with larger conidia of 5-6 μm and vesicle sizein the high margin of A. japonicus. Based on physiological features,differences between A. saccharolyticus and other uniseriate species inthe Nigri section were found. Growth on CREA resembled that of A.aculeatinus, as moderate growth and medium acid production was observed,while growth on CYA mostly resembled that of A. aculeatus, however, thereverse side of A. saccharolyticus is olive-green/brownish with sulcatestructure, while that os A. aculeatus is curry-yellowish/brown (FIG. 14compared with (Samson et al., 2007)). MEA was a medium where colony sizewas clearly different, with A. saccharolyticus being smaller than theother uniseriate aspergilli. A. saccharolyticus grew better on CYA thanA. aculeatus and A. japonicus, but growth was limited compared to A.aculeatinus and A. uvarum. Growth diameter of A. saccharolyticus on CYAat 37° C. was approximately the same as for A. uvarum, while A.aculeatus and A. japonicus were less inhibited, and A. aculeatinus evenless inhibited measuring the larger diameter of all uniseriate at thiselevated temperature (Table 4).

With regards to temperature tolerance, growth was examined on CYA at 30°C., 33° C., 36° C., and 40° C. The maximum temperature A.saccharolyticus was able to grow at was 36° C., but growth at thistemperature was restricted compared to the lower temperatures, which isgenerally the case for the other uniseriate aspergilli as well (Samsonet al., 2007). A. saccharolyticus showed a distinct change in morphologyon CYA from 30° C. to 33° C., but maintaining good growth at bothtemperatures (FIG. 15). The same tendency has been observed for A.aculeatinus grown on MEA, while A. japonicus, and A. aculeatus showed nochange in morphology at these temperatures, while growth of A. uvarumwas inhibited at 33° C. (Samson et al., 2007).

The conclusion that Aspergillus saccharolyticus is a novel species isbased on a polyphasic approach combining phylogenetic analysis of threegenes and UP-PCR data for characterizing the genotype, andmorphological, physiological, and chemotaxonomical characteristics forphenotype analysis. Because the strain was unique in its geneticphylogeny, UP-PCR profile, extrolite profile, morphological, andphysiological characteristics, Aspergillus saccharolyticus is a novelspecies. Aspergillus saccharolyticus is an efficient producer ofbeta-glucosidases (EXAMPLE 1) and the name refers to its great abilityto hydrolyze cellobiose and cellodextrins.

Latin Diagnosis of Aspergillus saccharolyticus SøRensen, Lübeck etFrisvad Sp. nov.

Coloniae post 7 dies 58-62 mm diamin agaro CYA, in CYA, 37° C.: 7-14 mm;in MEA 35-37, in YES 75-80 mm, in agaro farina avenacea confecto 39-42mm, in CREA 30-34 mm. Coloniae primum albae, deinde obscure brunneae velatrae, reversum cremeum vel dilute brunneum. Conidiorum capitula primumglobosa, stipes 200-850×5-7 μm, crassitunicatus, levis, vesiculae 25-40μm diam, fere globosae; capitula uniseriata; phialides lageniformes,collulis brevis, 5.5-7 μm; conidia globosa vel subglobosa, 5-6.2 μm,echinulata. Sclerotia haud visa.

Typus CBS 127449^(T) (=IBT 28509^(T)), isolatus e lignore Quercetorum inGentofte, Dania.

Description of Aspergillus saccharolyticus Sørensen, Lübeck et Frisvadsp. nov.

Aspergillus saccharolyticus (sac.ca'ro.ly'ti.cus. N.L. masc. adj.saccharolyticus, being able to degrade cellobiose and cellodextins).

Colony diameter at 7 days: CYA at 25° C.: 58-62 mm, at 37° C.: 7-14 mm;CYAS: 11-14 mm; YES: 75-80 mm; OA: 39-42 mm; CY20S: 42-54 mm; CY40S:43-54 mm; MEA: 35-37 mm; CREA 30-34 mm, poor growth, good acidproduction, colony first white then dark brown to black (FIG. 14).Exudates absent, reverse cream-coloured to light greyish olive brown onCYA and light brown on YES. Conidial heads globose; stipes 200-850×5-7μm, walls thick, smooth; vesicles 25-40 μm diam, globose; uniseriate,phialides flask shaped with a short broad collulum, 5.5-7 μm; conidiamostly globose, but some are subglobose, 5-6.2 μm, distinctlyechinulate, with long sharp discrete spines, the spines being 0.6-0.8 μmlong. Sclerotia have not been observed.

The type strain CBS 127449^(T) (=IBT 28509^(T)) was isolated from undera toilet seat made of treated oak wood, Gentofte, Denmark

Example 3 Cloning, Expression, and Characterization of a Novel HighlyEfficient Beta-Glucosidase from Aspergillus saccharolyticus

As shown in the previous example 1, Aspergillus saccharolyticus producebeta-glucosidases with more efficient hydrolytic activity compared tocommercial beta-glucosidase containing preparations, especially withregard to thermostability (EXAMPLE 1). In the present example, the mostprominent beta-glucosidase from A. saccharolyticus are identified,isolated and characterized. The molecular cloning of the novelbeta-glucosidase gene, bgil is reported, and a model prediction of itsstructure is presented. The novel beta-glucosidase was expressed in T.reesei for purification and the enzyme was then characterized byMichaelis-Menten kinetic studies, thermostability, pH optimum, glucosetolerance, and ability to hydrolyze cellodextrins.

Fungal Strain and Enzyme Extract Preparation

A. saccharolyticus CBS 127449^(T) was initially isolated from treatedhard wood (EXAMPLE 2) and routinely maintained on potato dextrose agar.A solid state fermentation enzyme extract of A. saccharolyticus wasprepared as described in EXAMPLE 1.

Fractionation by Ion Exchange Chromatography

The enzyme extract of A. saccharolyticus was fractionated by ionexchange chromatography using an AKTApurifier system with UNICORNsoftware. HiTrap Q XL 1 ml anion column (GE Healthcare) was run at aflow rate of 1 ml/min, 5 CV of buffer A (Tris buffer pH 8) was used toequilibrate the column, 5 CV sample (approx 0.5 mg protein/ml) wasloaded onto the column, followed by a 2 CV wash with buffer A. Gradientelution was carried out over 30CV with buffer B (Tris buffer pH 8+1MNaCl) reaching 70% of the total volume. The column was finally washedwith 5 CV buffer B and reequilibrated for the next run with buffer A.Aliquots of 1 ml were collected and assayed for beta-glucosidaseactivity as well as quantified in terms of protein content, as describedbelow.

Assays for Beta-Glucosidase Activity and Protein Quantification

Beta-glucosidase activity was assayed using 5 mMp-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG) (Sigma) in 50 mM Na-Citratebuffer pH 4.8 as described in EXAMPLE 1.

Protein quantification was done using the Pierce BCA protein assay kitmicroplate procedure according to manufacturer's instructions (PierceBiotechnology), using bovine serum albumin as standard.

Electrophoresis

Sample preparation and electrophoresis was performed using ClearPAGEprecast gels and accessories (C.B.S. Scientific Company, Inc). Sampleswere prepared by mixing 65 vol % protein, 25% 4×LDS sample buffer (40%glycerol, 4% Ficoll-400, 0.8M Triethano amine pH 7.6, 6N HCl, 4% Lithiumdodecyl sulphate, 2 mM EDTA di-sodium, 0.025% Brilliant blue G250,0.025% Phenol red), and 10% 10× reducing agent (20 mM DTT) and heatingfor 10 min at 70° C. 25 μl of each sample were loaded on a ClearPAGE4-12% SDS-gel, using ClearPAGE two-color SDS marker for band sizeapproximation. The gel was stained with ClearPAGE Instant Blue stain byplacing the gel in a small container, adding the Instant Blue stain tillthe gel was covered, followed by shaking the gel gently for 10-30minutes till desired band intensity was achieved. No destaining wasperformed, but the gels were washed a few times in ultrapure water, withgently shaking.

Mass Spectrometry and Protein Identification

Bands of interest were excised from the gel, and in-gel digestion wasperformed as described by Kinter and Sherman (2000) (Kinter & Sherman,2000). The trypsin digestion, and sample analysis was carried out by TheLaboratory for Biotechnology and Bioanalysis 2 (LBB2), Washington StateUniversity, Pullman, Wash., USA, where analysis was performed byLC-MS/MS using LC Packings Ultimate Nano high-performance liquidchromatography system (with LC Packings monolithic column PS-DVB) andEsquire HCT electrospray ion trap (Bruker Daltonics, Billerica, Mass.)as described in their former publication (Noh et al., 2008). The Mascotsearch engine (www.matrixscience.com) was used to search the peptidefinger prints against predicted peptides in the NCBI database with thesignificance threshold p<0.05.

Isolation and Cloning of Beta-Glucosidase Gene

Based on the Aspergillus aculeatus peptide match found in the LC-MS/MSanalysis, the corresponding full length beta-glucosidase protein (GenBank: BAA10968) was submitted to a NCBI NCBI Blast of search in theprotein entries of GenBank (http://NCBI Blast of .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/NCBIBlast of .cgi) to identify similar beta-glucosidases. An alignment ofthese sequences was made with BioEdit(http://www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/bioedit.html) to identify conservedregions. Degenerate primers were designed using the CODEHOP strategy(Rose et al., 2003): forward primer: 5′CACGAAATGTACCTCtggcccttygc andreverse primer 5′CCTTGATCACGTTGTCGccrttcykcca. Genomic DNA of A.saccharolyticus was isolated as described in EXAMPLE 1. The primers wereused in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with genomic DNA and RUNpolymerase (A&A Biotechnology), obtaining a fragment of approximately950 bp. The band was excised from the gel and sequenced using thesequencing service at MWG (MWG, Germany), and was by NCBI NCBI Blast offound to be related to other aspergilli beta-glucosidase fragments. Fromseveral rounds of genome walking (Guo & Xiong, 2006), the flankingregions were characterized, thereby obtaining the full genomic sequenceof the gene. The start and stop codon was predicted by NCBI NCBI Blastof comparison and the GenScan Web server(http://genes.mit.edu/GENSCAN.html).

RNA was prepared from 4 day old fungal spores and mycelium grown onplates containing 20 g/l wheat bran, 20 g/l corn steep liquor, 3 g/lNaNO₃, 1 g/l K₂HPO₄, 0.5 g/l KCl, 0.5 g/l MgSO₄7H₂O, 0.01 g/l FeSO₄7H₂O,15 g/l agar. The cells were disrupted by bead beating (2×20 sec) inFenozol supplied with the Total RNA kit (A&A Biotechnology) and RNApurified following the kit protocol. cDNA was prepared from total RNAusing First strand cDNA synthesis kit and random hexamer primers(Fermentas),

A cassette comprising Magnaporthe grisea Ribosomal promoter RP27, thebeta-glucosidase genomic DNA gene, six histidine residues, andNeurospora crassa beta-tubulin terminator was constructed using PCRcloning techniques and cloned into the Pcil site of pAN7-1. The plasmidpAN7-1 containing the E. coli hygB resistance gene was donated by PeterPunt (University of Leiden, The Netherlands) (Punt et al., 1987). Thepromoter and terminator were from plasmid pSM565 (Bourett et al., 2002)and the beta-glucosidase gene was from A. saccharolyticus genomic DNA.PCR was performed using proofreading WALK polymerase (A&ABiotechnology), while restriction enzymes (fast digest Pcil), alkalinephosphatase (fastAP), and ligase (T4 DNA ligase) were from Fermentas.The construct pAS3-gBGL was transformed into E. coli Top 10 competentcells (prepared using CaCl₂ (Sambrook & Russel, 2001)) and plated on LBplates (10 g/l bacto tryptone, 5 g/l yeast extract, 10 g/l NaCl, 15 g/lagar, pH 7.5) with ampicillin selection (100 ppm). Correct transformantswere checked for by colony PCR using several different promoter,beta-glucosidase, and terminator specific primers. An overnight culturewith a correct transformant was prepared and the constructed cloningvector purified the following day (E.Z.N.A. Plasmid Midi Kit, OmegaBiotech). The final cloning vector, pAS3-gBGL, is sketched in FIG. 16.

Transformation and identification of active recombinant beta-glucosidasein T. reesei Protoplast preparation of T. reesei QM6a was carried outsimilarly to the procedure described by Pentilla et al. (1987) (Penttilaet al., 1987) 100 ml complete medium (10 g/l glucose, 2 g/l peptone, 1g/l yeast extract, 1 g/l casamino acids, 6 g/l NaNO₃, 0.52 g/l KCl, 0.52g/l MgSO₄.7H₂O, 1.52 g/l KH₂PO₄, 22 mg/l ZnSO₄.7H₂O, 11 mg/l H₃BO₃, 5mg/l MnCl₂.4H₂O, 5 mg/l FeSO₄.7H₂O, 1.7 mg/l CoCl₂.6H₂O, 1.6 mg/lCuSO₄.5H₂O, 1.5 mg/l Na₂MoO₄.2H₂O, and 50 mg/l Na₂EDTA) in a 500 mlbaffled flask was inoculated with fresh T. reesei conidia reaching aconcentration of 10⁶ spores per ml and incubated for 16-22 hours at 30°C., 120 rpm. The mycelium was collected on double folded Miracloth(Andwin scientific) and washed with sterile water. The mycelium wassuspended in 20 ml protoplasting solution (1.2 M MgSO₄, 50 mM NaPO₄ pH5.8) with 60 mg VinoTaste Pro (Novozymes A/S) enzyme per ml, incubatedfor 2-4 hours at 30° C., 65 rpm, then filtered through double foldedMiracloth, and washed with a few ml protoplasting solution. Theprotoplasts were overlaid with ST buffer (0.6 M sorbitol, 0.1 M Tris-HCLpH 7.0) (approx. 20% the volume of protoplasting solution) andcentrifuged at 1000 g for 10 min. Protoplasts were collected from theinterphase and washed twice with STC buffer (1.0 M sorbitol, 10 mM CaCl₂2H₂O, 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5), finally resuspending in STC buffer at aconcentration of approximately 5×10⁷ for immediate use intransformation.

For transformation, 200 μl protoplasts, 10 μl plasmid DNA (>1 μg), and50 μl PEG1 (25% PEG 6000 in STC buffer) were mixed gently and incubatedon ice for 20 min. 2 ml PEG2 (25% PEG 6000, 50 mM CaCl2, 10 mM Tris-HClpH7.5) was added and incubated 5 min at room temperature, followed byaddition of 4 ml STC buffer. Aliquots of 1 ml were plates in recoveryagar (1 g/l MgSO₄7H₂O, 10 g/l KH₂PO₄, 6 g/l (NH₄)₂SO₄, 3 g/l NaCltrate2H₂O, 10 g/l Glucose, 182 g/l sorbitol (final 1 M), 5 mg/l FeSO₄7H₂O,1.6 mg/l MnSO₄H₂O, 1.4 mg/l ZnSO₄H₂O, 2 mg/l CaCl₂2H₂O, 15 g/l agar)with 100 ppm hygromycin as selection, and incubated at 28° C. overnight. The following day, a top layer of the above described agar, againwith 100 ppm hygromycin, but without sorbitol, was added, and the plateswere incubated for another 2-4 days before colonies that had surfacedwere picked and carried through multiple retransfers and streaking onselective medium to obtain pure colonies.

Identification of positive transformants was done by a simple pNPGactivity screen, where three 0.5×0.5 cm agar plugs of the transformantswere added to 10 ml growth medium (20 g/l wheat bran, 20 g/l corn steepliquor, 3 g/l NaNO₃, 1 g/l K₂HPO₄, 0.5 g/l KCl, 0.5 g/l MgSO₄7H₂O, 0.01g/l FeSO₄7H₂O) in 50 ml Falcon tubes and incubated at 30° C., 180 rpmfor five days. The supernatant was collected, centrifuged at 10,000 rpmfor 10 min and assayed for beta-glucosidase activity using the pNPGassay described earlier. At these conditions, the wild type QM6a showedno significant activity, so positive transformants were identified bythe presence of beta-glucosidase activity.

Purification of Expressed Beta-Glucosidases

Using the HisSpin Trap kit (GE Healthcare), following the protocolsupplied with the kit, the optimal imidazole concentration forpurification of the histidine tagged beta-glucosidases was found to be 0mM imidazole.

The transformant having shown the greatest beta-glucosidase activity wascultured in 150 ml growth medium (specified above) in a 500 ml baffledflask, incubated at 30° C., 160 rpm for 6 days. The supernatant wascentrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min, filtered through a 0.22 μm filter(Millipore) and pH adjusted to 7.4.

The his-tagged beta-glucosidases were purified on the ÄKTApurifiersystem with UNICORN software, using a HisTrap HP 5 ml anion column (GEHealthcare), run at a flow rate of 5 ml/min. The column was equilibratedwith 5CV of binding buffer (20 mM sodium phosphate, 0.5M NaCl, pH 7.4),100 ml sample was loaded onto the column, followed by washing withbinding buffer till the absorbance reached the baseline. The his-taggedbeta-glucosidases were eluted with 3CV elution buffer (20 mM sodiumphosphate, 0.5M NaCl, 500 mM imidazole, pH 7.4) and the peak (1 CV)collected by monitoring the absorbance.

Assays for Characterization of Purified Beta-Glucosidases

Michaelis Menten kinetics, glucose tolerance, termostability, pHoptimum, and cellodextrin hydrolysis were carried out as described inEXAMPLE 1.

Sequence Comparisons and Homology Modeling

Similar sequences were located by NCBI BLAST OF (Altschul et al., 1997)in the protein entries of GenBank (Benson et al., 2004) and alignedusing hidden Markov models (Karplus et al., 2005) and CLUSTAL W(Thompson et al., 1994). Similar beta-glucosidase catalytic domainstructures were obtained from the Protein Data Bank (PDB; (Berman etal., 2000)), then superimposed and compared with the program 0 (Jones etal., 1991). Multiple sequence alignments were used to generate the bestpair-wise alignment of the A. saccharolyticus beta-glucosidase with thatof the T. neapolitana beta-glucosidase 3B. This pair-wise alignment wasthe basis of creating a homology model, with PDB entry 2×40 (Pozzo etal., 2010) as the template in the program SOD (Kleywegt et al., 2001).The model was adjusted in O, using rotamers that would improve packingin the interior of the protein. The model is available upon request fromthe authors. The figure was prepared using O, MOLSCRIPT (Kraulis, 1991)and Molray (Harris & Jones, 2001).

Results

Identification of Beta-Glucosidase in A. Saccharolyticus Extract

The enzyme extract of A. saccharolyticus produced by solid statefermentation on wheat bran, was fractionated by ion exchangechromatography, investigating the beta-glucosidase activity and proteincontent of each fraction (FIG. 17). Protein content could be measured inall fractions. Approximately 25% of the proteins did not bind to thecolumn, but passed through prior to the start of the gradient elution.No beta-glucosidase activity was found in this initial flow-through. Thefractions displaying the greatest beta-glucosidase activity were thefractions #15-17. These fractions with eluted beta-glucosidase werecalculated to have a NaCl concentration of approximately 0.14-0.23M.From SDS-page, one dominating band of approximately 130 kDa wasdiscovered in these fractions (FIG. 17). The intensity of this band inthe different fractions followed the measured beta-glucosidase activity.The proteins in this band were found to be highly expressed relative toother proteins in the raw A. saccharolyticus extract (FIG. 18). The bandof fraction 16 was excised from the gel, trypsin digested, analyzed byLC-MS/MS, and searched against the NCBI database for peptide matchesusing the Mascot program. The sample was identified as abeta-glucosidase, having peptides identical to several Aspergillispecies, including A. aculeatus (Swiss-Prot: P48825), A. terreus (NCBIref seq XP_(—)001212225), A. niger (GenBank CAB75696), and A. fumigatus(NCBI ref seq XP_(—)750327). The best match was the beta-glucosidase ofA. aculeatus, with five peptide matches. Besides of beta-glucosidasepeptides, also peptide matches of beta-galactosidase from differentAspergillus species were found suggesting that the analyzed bandcontained more than one protein. Only the results for thebeta-glucosidase peptides were used for degenerate primer design toobtain the homologous beta-glucosidase of A. saccharolyticus.

Characterization of Beta-Glucosidase Gene, Bgl1, and Predicted Protein,BGL1

By the use of degenerate primers and genome walking, the genomic codingsequence of bgl1 of 2919 base pairs (incl stop coden) was obtained(GenBank HM853555). The sequence comprised seven exons, intercepted bysix introns located at 58-119, 263-313, 359-414, 468-523, 1716-1776,2636-2685 bp, which all followed the GT-AG rule at the intron/exonjunctions. The gene encodes a 680 amino acid polypeptide, BGL1,predicted by NetAspGene 1.0 (Wang et al., 2009) and confirmed by mRNAisolation and sequencing of the derived cDNA. A signal peptide with acleavage site between amino acid 19 and 20 was predicted by SignalPserver (Bendtsen et al., 2004, Nielsen et al., 1997). A TATA-likesequence at position −138 bp, a CCAAT box at position −695 bp, andseveral Crel sites at positions −145, −619, −1186, −1294, and −1313 wereidentified upstream of the start codon. Analysis of the predicted cDNAgene sequence revealed 85% identity with bgl1 from A. aculeatus (GenBankD64088.1) (Kawaguchi et al., 1996) and 75% identity with bgl1 A. (NCBIref seq XM_(—)001398779) (Pel et al., 2007).

The pl of BGL was calculated to 4.96 and the molecular mass wascalculated to 91 kDa using the ExPASy Proteomics server (Gasteiger etal., 2005). This prediction does not relate to the size of the band infraction 16 (FIG. 18), but from the NetNGlyc 1.0 server (Blom et al.,2004) BGL has 12 asparagines that are potential N-linked glycosylationsites. The molecular weight of 130 kDa observed by SDSpage thereforeprobably reflects extensive glycosylation.

The previous MS/MS data of the band in faction 16 was by use of Mascotsearched against possible trypsin fragments and expected MS/MS patternsof the BGL sequence. The observed MS/MS data matched the expected data,thus confirming that the cloned bgl gene codes for the protein presentin fraction 16.

Analysis of the amino acid sequence of BGL resulted in 91% identity withbeta-glucosidase BGL1 from A. aculeatus (GenBank BAA10968) (Kawaguchi etal., 1996) and 82% identity with beta-glucosidase GBL1 from A. niger(NCBI ref seq XP_(—)001398816) (Pel et al., 2007). Alignment of theamino acid sequence of BGL from A. saccharolyticus with severalaspergilli glycosyl hydrolase (GH) family 3 beta-glucosidases revealed ahigh degree of homology in highly conserved regions including thecatalytic sites (FIG. 19), and PROSITE scan (Sigrist et al., 2010)confirmed the presence of a GH family 3 active site in BGL1, predictingthe signature sequence to be between amino acids 248-264(LLKSELGFQGFVMSDWGA) in the mature protein. The putative nucleophile,Asp261, of the mature BGL1 of A. saccharolyticus is located in thisregion (Henrissat, 1991).

Homology modeling studies show that A. saccharolyticus beta-glucosidase1 catalytic module possesses a fold similar to that of beta-glucosidase3B from T. neapolitana with 5 deletions and 8 insertions compared to it(FIG. 20). Although the sequence identity is relatively low (35%) it isobvious that the residues important for substrate binding and catalysisare conserved (FIG. 20A).

These results imply that BGL1 is a novel beta-glucosidase belonging toGH family 3.

Heterologous Expression of Bgl by T. Reesei

The bgl gene was heterologously expressed in T. reesei from theconstitutive RP27 ribosomal promoter. Positive transformants wereselected by simple pNPG assay, where the negative control, wild typeQM6a, showed no beta-glucosidase activity at the culture and assayconditions used. The transformant identified from the screening to havethe highest beta-glucosidase activity was confirmed by PCR to have theexpression cassette incorporated into its genomic DNA. Using a Nisepharose column, the his-tagged proteins were purified from an extractof the transformant. An SDS-page gel of the eluent showed two bands(FIG. 18), one correlating in size with the band found in fractions15-17 in the initial fractionation of the A. saccharolyticus extract(approximately 130 kDa) and another that was smaller (approximately 90kDa) correlating with the predicted size of the protein. 3.8 mg purifiedprotein was obtained from 100 ml filtered culture extract, whichcorresponded to about 2.7% of the total amount of protein in the cultureextract.

Characterization of the Purified BGL1

The purified BGL1 was characterized by its activity on pNPG andcellobiose.

A substrate saturation plot of BGL1 revealed inhibition of the enzymereaction, when pNPG in high concentrations was used as substrate. Thiswas observed by a decrease in reaction rate with increasing substrateconcentration rather than a leveling off toward a maximum velocity (FIG.21A). Meanwhile, a MM kinetics relationship was found for cellobiose,where the reaction rate tends towards the maximum velocity (FIG. 21A). AHanes plot of the cellobiose data gave a good distribution of the datapoints for preparation of a straight trendline from which V_(max) andK_(M) were determined to be 45 U/mg and 1.9 mM, respectively. Glucoseinhibition was investigated with pNPG as substrate, showing a reductionin activity to 50% at a product concentration 30 times greater than thesubstrate concentration (FIG. 21B).

BGL1 was incubated at different temperatures for different time periodsto investigate the thermostability and half-life of the enzyme. Atregularly used hydrolysis temperature of 50° C., the enzyme was stablethroughout the incubation period (data not shown). The enzyme is fairlystable at temperatures up to 58° C. at 4 hour incubation (FIG. 22A), butwith temperatures above 60° C. the calculated half-life is approximately6 hours (FIG. 22A). From 62° C. and up to 65° C. there is a graduallydecrease in the half-life to less than 2.5 hours. The pH span of BGL wasexamined at 50° C. using pNPG as substrate. Its profile gives thetypical bell-shape curve with an optimum around pH 4.2, and within thepH range 3.8-4.8 the activity stayed above 90% of maximum. At basicconditions, activity was below 10%, showing that acidic pH values arebetter suited for enzyme activity (FIG. 22B).

The ability of BGL1 to hydrolyze short chains of glucose units wasstudied with cellohexaose, -pentaose, -tetraose, and -triose, where onlydata for cellohexaose hydrolysis is shown here (FIG. 23). Initially, asthe level of cellohexaose decreases, the concentration of primarilycellopentaose and glucose increase. Later, as the concentration ofcellopentaose has increased, an increase in cellotetraose is observed,indicating that the enzyme hydrolyzes the different cellodextrinsdepending on the concentration in which they occur. Similar results wereobtained using cellopentaose, -tetraose and -triose as initialsubstrates. These observations of the different cellodextrins increasingin concentration over time related to their length suggests that theenzyme hydrolyzes the different cellodextrins through exohydrolaseaction, removing one glucose unit at the time releasing glucose and theone unit shorter product before it associates with another substrate,rather than processively cleaving off glucose units.

Discussion

We have cloned a beta-glucosidase, BGL, from the novel species A.saccharolyticus (EXAMPLE 2) and expressed it in T. reesei in order topurify the enzyme for a specific characterization.

Initially, we used ionexchange fractionation of the raw enzyme extractof A. saccharolyticus followed by LC-MS/MS analysis of the dominatingprotein band in the fractions with high beta-glucosidase activity. Thiswas applied for the identification of active beta-glucosidases from A.saccharolyticus. Aspergilli are known to possess severalbeta-glucosidases in their genomes, e.g. A. niger has 11 GH3beta-glucosidases predicted (Pel et al., 2007) of which 6 wereidentified as extracellular proteins by the SignalP 1.0 server (Bendtsenet al., 2004, Nielsen et al., 1997). With this approach we intended toidentify the key beta-glucosidase player amongst the potential severalexpressed beta-glucosidases of A. saccharolyticus.

Ion exchange separates molecules on the basis of differences in theirnet surface charge. The net surface charge of proteins will changegradually as pH of the environment changes (Amersham Biosciences, 2004).The isoelectric point (pi) of the 6 predicted A. niger secretedbeta-glucosidases (Pel et al., 2007) were, using ExPASY proteomicsserver (Gasteiger et al., 2005), calculated to around pH 5. Assuming thepl of the secreted A. saccharolyticus beta-glucosidases are in the samerange, an anion column was chosen for ion exchange using Tris buffer pH8, as proteins will bind to an anion exchanger at pH above itsisoelectric point (Amersham Biosciences, 2004). The beta-glucosidases ofA. saccharolyticus did bind to the column at these conditions, with noactivity found in the initial flow through fractions, and analysis ofthe later deducted amino acid sequence of BGL was calculated to have apl of 4.96, correlating well with the above.

Proteomics is useful for the identification of secreted proteins andhave been used for the identification of beta-glucosidases of A.fumigatus (Kim et al., 2007a). MS/MS peptide analysis followed bymolecular techniques were here employed for the identification andcloning of beta-glucosidases from A. saccharolyticus. From LC-MS/MSanalysis, peptides of a beta-glucosidase and a beta-galactosidase wereidentified in the protein band that was dominating in the proteinfractions with high beta-glucosidase activity, indicating that it hadnot been a pure band, but rather had it contained both abeta-glucosidase and a beta-galactosidase of A. saccharolyticus. Onlythe identification of the beta-glucosidase was further pursued.

By genome walking, the beta-glucosidase was successfully cloned, and thesize of its cDNA corresponded well with the beta-glucosidases of A.aculeatus (GenBank: BAA10968) and A. niger (GenBank: XP_(—)001398816) towhich it is most closely related. However, the predicted polypeptidesize of the cloned beta-glucosidase was only 91 kDa compared to theapproximately 130 kDa band seen in the SDS page gel. Glycosylation ofbeta-glucosidases is common (Krogh et al., 2010, Murray et al., 2004,Dan et al., 2000, Jeya et al., 2010, Decker et al., 2000) and it wastherefore assumed that the SDS page gel size estimation of the proteinwas mislead by glycosylation that makes the protein run slower in thegel, which has also been seen with beta-glucosidases from Talaromycesemersonii expressed in T. reesei (Murray et al., 2004). Severalpotential N-glycosylation sites were identified for BGL, supporting thisassumption. Based on interest in obtaining knowledge of regulation ofbgl expression in A. saccharolyticus, putative binding sites for thecellulose regulatory protein, CREI, were searched for upstream of thebgl gene. Five putative Crel sites were found within the 1350 pbsequence from genome walking have obtained upstream of the gene. CREI isknown to be involved in carbon catabolite repression of many fungalcellulase genes.

BGL1 was based on its amino acid sequence characterized as belonging tothe GH family 3, matching the active site signature (Henrissat, 1991,Cantarel et al., 2009). Several GH3 beta-glucosidases have been clonedand characterized, but few studies have been published on heterologousexpression by T. reesei, while several have been expressed by E. coli,and some by Yeast (Bhatia et al., 2002). One example of expression by T.reesei is the beta-glucosidase, cel3a cDNA, of T. emersonii where thechb1 promoter and terminator of T. reesei were used (Murray et al.,2004). Another example is the T. reesei production strain by NovozymesA/S expressing A. oryzae beta-glucosidase for improved celluloseconversion (Merino & Chemy, 2007). We here present heterologousexpression of bgl from A. saccharolyticus by T. reesei QM6a using theconstitutive M. grisea ribosomal promoter RP27 and the N. crassabeta-tubulin terminator to control expression of the gDNA clone of bgl1,thereby successfully combining host, promoter, gene, and terminator fromdifferent eukaryotes. The host strain was transformed with thenon-linearized plasmid for random insertion, giving recombinant proteinyields of 3.8 mg/100 ml from 6 days cultivation of the besttransformant. This is significantly greater than the expression levelsreached with T. emersonii (Murray et al., 2004), but still low comparedto the secretion capacity of T. reesei (Merino & Chemy, 2007).

Interestingly, it appeared that T. reesei secreted the heterologouslyexpressed BGL1 in two different forms represented by the two bands onthe SDSpage gel of the histidine-tag purified proteins. It is speculatedthat these two different bands represent different degrees ofglycolysation, the large one being glycosylated to the same extent asfound in the A. saccharolyticus secreted BGL, and the smaller onecorrelating with the predicted molecular mass thus not beingglycosylated. Postsecretional modification of glycosylated proteinsexpressed by T. reesei is medium dependent, with the effect onextracellular hydrolases being most dominating in enriched medium (Stalset al., 2004), possibly explaining the different forms of therecombinant BGL beta-glucosidases. BGL1 is classified as a broadspecificity beta-glucosidase as it can hydrolyze botharyl-beta-glycosides, cellobiose, and cellooligo-saccharides (Bhatia etal., 2002). Comparing the properties of A. saccharolyticus BGL to otherAspergillus beta-glucosidases, the observed inhibition at high pNPGsubstrate concentrations has also been reported for A. niger (Krogh etal., 2010, Seidle et al., 2004, Yan et al., 1998), A. aculeatus and A.japonicus (Decker et al., 2000). Whether the inhibition of A.saccharolyticus BGL is due to regular substrate inhibition kinetics withan additional pNPG binding to the substrate-enzyme complex hinderingrelease of product, or if transglycosylation occurs with pNPG playingthe role of the nucleophile competing with a water molecule in breakingthe enzyme-product complex, is not known. BGL1 has K_(M) value ofcellobiose comparable with other reported values for Aspergillusbeta-glucosidases, with K_(M) values of 2-3 mM for A. phoenicis, A.niger, and A. carbonarius beta-glucosidases (Jager et al., 2001), 1 mMfor A. japonicus (Korotkova et al., 2009), and a general literaturesearch by Jäger et al. (2001) showing K_(M) varying from 1.5-5.6 mM forA. niger (Jager et al., 2001). Meanwhile, the specific activity, V., ofA. saccharolyticus BGL1 was significantly higher than values reportedfor other purified Aspergillus beta-glucosidases, with cellobiose assubstrate in hydrolysis (Table 5) (Jager et al., 2001, Rajoka et al.,2006, Yan & Lin, 1997).

TABLE 5 Comparison of V_(max) values reported in the literature forhydrolysis of cellobiose by purified beta-glucosidases, eitherheterologously expressed or directly purified from extract of originAssay V_(max) conditions Organism ID, enzyme ID (U/mg) (° C., pH)Reference A. cellulolyticus CBS 127449 49   50, 4.8 This work A. nigerNIAB280 36.5  50, 5.0 Rajoka et al. (2006) A. niger CCRC31494  5.27 40,4.0 Yan and Lin (1997) A. niger BKMF-1305 38.8  50, 4.0 Jäger et al.(2001) A. carbonarius KLU-93 15.4  50, 4.0 Jäger et al. (2001) A.phoenicis QM329 27.3  50, 4.0 Jäger et al. (2001)

Hydrolysis of cellodextrins was facilitated by BGL1, as has also beenfound with A. niger beta-glucosidase, that similarly in exo-fashionremoves one glucose unit at the time from the end of the cellodextrins,so that products released are subsequently used as substrates to beshortened by another glucose (Seidle et al., 2004).

Acidic pH being best suited for beta-glucosidase activity was also foundfor beta-glucosidases from A. oryzae, A. phoenicis, A. carbonarius, A.aculeatus, A. foetidus, A. japonicus, A. niger, and A. tubingensis withoptima ranging pH 4-5, and close to no activity at alkaline conditions(Jager et al., 2001, Decker et al., 2000, Korotkova et al., 2009, R10uet al., 1998). Thermal stability, however, is more difficult to compareas different researches use different incubation conditions, times andtemperatures. We found A. saccharolyticus BGL to be more thermostablecompared with Novozym 188 from A. niger, as it retained more than 90%activity at 60° C. and still had approx. 10% activity at 67° C. after 2hours of incubation, while Novozym 188 had 75% activity at 60° C. but noactivity at 67° C. after 2 hours of incubation (EXAMPLE 1). After 4hours of incubation these differences is much more pronounced as our BGLstill had more than 70% activity while Novozym 188 drop to 40% activityat 60° C. Jager et al. (2001) studied beta-glucosidases from A.phoenicis, A. niger, A. carbonarius, finding them all to be stable at 2hours incubation at 50° C., while activities of 87%, 64%, and 53%,respectively, remained after 2 hours incubation at 60° C., and totalinactivation was observed after 2 hours at 70° C. (Jager et al., 2001).Compared to this, A. saccharolyticus BGL showed approximately the samestability as A. phoenicis. Rojaka et al. (2006) similarly find half-lifeof A. niger beta-glucosidase to be 8 hours at 50° C. and 4 hours at 60°C. (Rajoka et al., 2006), which is similar to our results (EXAMPLE 1),whereas Krogh et al. indicate a half-life for A. niger BG of 24 hours at60° C. This is six times longer than measured by us and Rojaka et al.(2006). Decker et al. (2000) demonstrates that an A. japonicus and A.tubingensis beta-glucosidase were remarkably stable, maintaining 85% and90% activity, respectively, after 20 hours incubation at 60° C. (Deckeret al., 2000). However, Korotkova et al. (2009) found A. japonicusbeta-glucosidase to only retain 57% of its activity after incubation for1 hour at 50° C. (Korotkova et al., 2009), contradicting the findings ofDekker et al. (2000). The crude extract of A. saccharolyticus, fromwhich BGL was identified, has previously been characterized by itsbeta-glucosidase activity and evaluated against two commercial enzymepreparations (EXAMPLE 1). Comparing the enzyme kinetics, temperature andpH profiles, glucose tolerance, and cellodextrin hydrolysis, a strikingsimilarity was found for the crude extract and the purified BGL.Substrate inhibition (or transglycosylation activity) with pNPG wasfound in both cases, while none was observed for cellobiose within thetested concentrations. There was therefore no foundation for thecalculation of V_(max) for pNPG as no tendency of the activityapproaching a maximum was seen rather the activity decreased with highersubstrate concentrations. Therefore V_(max) and K_(M) were onlycalculated for cellobiose where the data correlated well with MMkinetics and a straight Hanes plot could be obtained for determinationof the kinetic parameters. Calculated K_(M) values for cellobiose weresimilar, 1.9 mM for the purified BGL vs. 1.09 mM for the crude extract,while the V. value expectedly increased for the purified BGL compared tothe crude extract. The pure enzyme was inhibited by glucose to the sameextent as the crude extract, the pH and temperature profiles were verysimilar, and the mode of hydrolysis of cellodextrins was consistent.This all together indicate that BGL is the main contributor to thebeta-glucosidase activity observed in the crude extract of A.saccharolyticus.

The crystal structure of a beta-glucosidase from barley has recentlybeen used as template to construct a homology model of abeta-glucosidase from Penicillium purpurogenum where superimposition ofthe modeled structure on the true structure from barley showed similarorientation and location of the conserved catalytic residues (Jeya etal., 2010). We chose to use the recently resolved crystal structure of aT. neopolitana beta-glucosidase to construct a homology model of the A.saccharolyticus BGL and found that the conserved catalytically importantresidues show that the enzyme possesses beta-glucosidase activity (FIG.20A). The deletion of loop X (FIG. 20B), having Ser370 described to haveweak H-bonds with glucose in −1 subsite in T. neapolitana structure,makes the catalytic pocket wider where this may be important forsubstrate accessibility as well as to remove the product fast from theenzyme. The insertions and deletions lining the catalytic pocket (FIG.20B) may play a major role in the dynamics of the enzyme. The motifKHFV, Lys163, His164, Phe165, Va1166, in the T. neapolitana structure isconsidered to be important for substrate recognition (Pozzo et al.,2010). However, this motif in the A. saccharolyticus enzyme is slightlydifferent, KHYI, Lys170, His171, Tyr172 and 11e173. The homologymodeling revealed that the catalytic pocket of A. saccharolyticusbeta-glucosidase is open compared to those of barley (PDB entry 1 LQ2)(Hrmova et al., 2004), Pseudoalteromonas sp, BB1 (PDB entry 3F94) and T.neapolitana (Pozzo et al., 2010) indicating possible high activity. Thedistance between the putative nucleophile (D261) and the acid/base(E490) is approximately 5.8 Å displaying the general characteristic of aretaining enzyme.

In conclusion, a novel highly efficient beta-glucosidase from the newlydiscovered species A. saccharolyticus has been identified and expressed.The enzyme has a great potential for use in industrial bioconversionprocesses due to its high degree of thermostability compared to thecommercial beta-glucosidase from A. niger (Novozym 188) as well as ahigh specific activity.

Sequences

SEQ ID NO: 1: BGL1 gDNA

Aspergillus saccharolyticus BGL1 gDNA sequence

>Gene#BGL gDNA 2919 bp

SEQ ID NO: 2: BGL1 Actual cDNA

Aspergillus saccharolyticus BGL1 cDNA sequence

>Gene#BGL actual cDNA 2582 bp

SEQ ID NO: 3: BGL1 Protein

Aspergillus saccharolyticus BGL1 protein sequence

>Gene#BGL1 protein 861aa

signal peptide is underlined

amino acid residues shown in bold are involved in substrate binding

Residues shown in italics are D (catalytic nucleophil) and E catalyticacid residue

SEQ ID NO: 4: BGL1 Protein without Signal PeptideAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL1 protein sequence without signal peptideBGL1 protein without signal peptide

SEQ ID NO: 5: BGL2 gDNAAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL2 gDNA sequenceATG start site and signal sequence as well as stop codon are highlightedboldIntrons are underlined

gccttaaggccnaagagccgcccagatcgttattcatccaacaatgattgactgcctcgttgacattgactgtggtgctctggacactgattggttttcttctatcatatgtcatggtgtgtgcagactgcatatgtgattcgaggccgcgtgatccaagatccctgtttggactggggtaggaagacaggtagctatatcttcagcagcctgtcgggtcataaacggtgatggtaaggttttcctgagtctgaccgtgtcctttcttccgttcaggggcattgacaatgactcctgtctggcattatctcatttatctgaccctgcttcttccaggataccttgcagccgatcaccgccgccgcgacgatgacgctgaagccttctcgcctccctactatccggcccctccgggaggttggatatccgattggagtgctgcatacgccaaagctcaggctgtggtgagcaatatgaccctagctgagaaagtcaacctcactaccggtaccggaatgttcatgggcccttgcgtcggtcaaacaggtagcgcacttcgattcgggataccaaacctctgtatgcaggactcccctctgggaatccgcaactcggaccataataccgcgttccctcctggggtaactgttggagctacctgggacaaggatctgatgtaccagcgtggtgtcgaacttggggaagaagctcgcgggaaaggtgtgaacgttctgcttggtccagtggtcggacccatgttcaggaagccactcggcggacgcgggtgggaaggcttcggcgccgatccgaccctgcaggcagttggaggcgcattgacgatccagggcatgcaaagcactggtgcgatagcttgtttgaaacatttcattgggaatgagcaagagatgtatcgcgagacctcggttctaactcaaggttattcatcgaacatcgatgaccgtaccctgcatgaactgtacttgtggccatttgcggagggagtccgggctggcgtgggctctgtgatgatggcgtacaacgatgtgagttcctcagacagtaggccagacggatttactgatcaggataggtgaatcgctcggcctgtagccagaatagcatgctcatcagcggcatccttaaggacgagttaggcttccaggggtttgtcatgaccgactggctggctcagcagggcggcgtctcgtctgccctcgccggacttgacatggctatgcctggcgatggggccatccctttgctcggggatgcttactggggatccgagctatcaaccgccatcctcaacggaacagtgccgctggatcgactcaatgacatggtatgagatcgtcaacctcctgctcctttcatactaagttttcaaggtcactcggatcgttgcgacttggtatcaaatgggtcaggatgaggattatcctctgcccaacttttcgagcaacacgctcgacaaaacaggccctctctatcccggtgccctgttctccccgacgggcgttgtcaaccaatatgtcgacgtgcaaggcaaccataacatcactgcgcacgctgttgcccgagatgcgatcactctcctcaagaacgagaataacacattgcccctcaagcgcagtgccgctctcaaggtgtttggtaccgatgctgggcccaacacttccggcctcaactcctgtagtgacatgggctgcgaccagggcgtccttacgatgggctggggaagtggtacctcgcacctcccttcactcgtcacgccgcaagaagccattgccaatcttactacgtcgaattcgactaccttttacttgtcggatacgttccctgccaatctcgccaccccatccacttccgacatcgctgtggtcttcatcaacgctgactctggcgagaactacatcactgtcgagtccaatccaggagaccgcaccagcgcaggcttcgatgcgtggcacaacggcaacgcgctcgttcaagctgctgcggccgagttctcgactgtggttgtagtgatccatactgttggccctatactgcttgaatcgtttattgacctccctagcgtcaaggctgtgcttattgctcacctccccggccagactgccggctattcgctcacggatgtcctgtatggcgaggtcagccctagcggccatctgccctacactatccctacatcggcgtcaaactacccatcctccatggacatcatcacctcacagccacttttgtcccagatccaggactggtttgatgaggggatttacatcgactatcgttactttctacaagccaacatcaccccccgctaccctttcggctacggattgtcgtacacgacgttccagtactcggcaccagttctgaccactgtgaccgaactgagcaccgaatatcccgctgcgagagcaagcaaggcttcggtcccaacttatcccacagatattcccgatcctcaagaagtcgcatggccgagcacgcttgatcggatctggcgctacctgtacccgtatctggatgatcccgagagcgttaccaacacaagcacctactcgtacccggccggctactccaccacggcgcatgcggccccgcgtgccgggggaggacagggtggcaaccctgcccttttcgaaaccgcttttgaggtagcggtgaccatcaccaacaccggcacacgaagtggacgagccgtggcacaactgtatgtgcaaatgccggatgaggcagttcttggagtagacaccccgaagagacagttgcgggcgtttgcgaagaccgggaccctggcgtccggggagagcgaagtcgtgactatgaatgtgaccaggaaagatttgagtgtgtgggatgtcacggtgcaggattggcgagcgccagttggtggagcgggtgtgactttctgggtaggggacagtgttgcagaagaggacctgacggtgaaatgtgctgttgggagtgactagggggctcataggccttaaggcSEQ ID NO: 6: BGL2 cDNAAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL2 cDNA sequenceSEQ ID NO: 7: BGL2 ProteinAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL2 protein sequenceSignal sequence is highlighted bold

mtpvwhyliyltlllpgylaadhrrrdddaeafsppyypappggwisdwsaayakaqavvsnmtlaekvnlttgtgmfmgpcvgqtgsalrfgipnlcmqdsplgirnsdhntafppgvtvgatwdkdlmyqrgvelgeeargkgvnvllgpvvgpmfrkplggrgwegfgadptlqavggaltiqgmqstgaiaclkhfigneqemyretsvltqgyssniddrtlhelylwpfaegvragvgsvmmayndvnrsacsqnsmlisgilkdelgfqgfvmtdwlaqqggvssalagldmampgdgaipllgdaywgselstailngtvpldrlndmvtrivatwyqmgqdedyplpnfssntldktgplypgalfsptgvvnqyvdvqgnhnitahavardaitllknenntlplkrsaalkvfgtdagpntsglnscsdmgcdqgvltmgwgsgtshlpslvtpqeaianlttsnsttfylsdtfpanlatpstsdiavvfinadsgenyitvesnpgdrtsagfdawhngnalvqaaaaefstvvvvihtvgpillesfidlpsvkavliahlpgqtagysltdvlygevspsghlpytiptsasnypssmdiitsqpllsqiqdwfdegiyidyryflqanitprypfgyglsyttfqysapvlttvtelsteypaaraskasvptyptdipdpqevawpstldriwrylypylddpesvtntstysypagysttahaapragggqggnpalfetafevavtitntgtrsgravaqlyvqmpdeavlgvdtpkrqlrafaktgtlasgesevvtmnvtrkdlsvwdvtvqdwrapvggagvtfwvgdsvaeedltvkcavgsd*SEQ ID NO: 8: BGL3 gDNAAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL3 genomic DNA sequenceATG start site and signal sequence as well as stop codon are highlightedboldIntrons are underlined

gccttaaggcctaggaacgtcccagaacgttgatcccaggactggccaatttttcccttttcttttgtctgcagcgtgagaatagattgagcgtcggcttgtcaagtcagccagctcctctttccctcaccttttcacaatgggtgtcagtctgctagccaaggggcttgcgcttcttcacctctgcgccggtgtcactgccagtagcaatgactcaacaccgctgtacaagaaccccaatgcgccggtggaggatcgtgtcagtgaccttctgggccgcatgaccatccacgacaagacgggacaactgatgcaaggtatgagtcttcctcgcgggtgatccgttaaatgtcttggataatctgtgctgactgctactgcaggggatctcgcgaactggatgaacaccacaactggagcgttcaactacacgggtctggtcgcgaacatggaaatgaaggcgggaggattctacggtacgagtccttgatcatgctgattatcgcgatgggaaagctgactagcgggcagttggatatgcggtcccgtgggactggatggtgaccaacatcaagcatgcgcaggactacctgatccataacaccacgcttggtattcctgcacttgttcagtcagaaggtaggcttgatgcaaaagttttggggaggatgttgctcacggctgcaggtattcatgggttcctggttcagaacgccactattttcaattcccctattgcatatggttgctccttcaaccgtgaggtgagtggtggacaccaactccagtgagccctgcaggctaatgatcgataacagctggtctccaaaatggccaaaatcatcagtcaagaatctctcactctgggcgtcaaccagctatttgcccctgtggttgacctggcccgtgagctgcggtatgggcgggtaagctcatgacttggacataggctaggctaggctttttagctaattgattaacaggccgaagagacgttctcggaggacccataccttgctggcgagattggctacaactatgtgcaaggcctgcagagtctcaacgtttcggccactgtcaagcattttgcgggcttcagtgcccctgaacaggggttgaacactgcgccagttcagggaggagagcgatatcttcgtactacgtaagtacagctaacaatcttaagatttatgctgacatgatgcagctggctgcactcattcaagcgtgcgatcatcgatgcaggtgcatggagtgtcatgagcgcataccactcgtgagtttgatgcttttgggaacaagattccttgcttacatgcatctagctacgatggcattcccgctgttgccgactggtttaccctgacaaaggttctgcgagaagagtggggtttcaagcactgggttttcagcgattcgggcgctactgatcgactgtgcaccgctttcaagctctgtcaagcctctccaatcgacatggaagcagtcaccctgcaggcactccctgctggtaacgacgttgagatgggtggtggctccttgtaagtatcctaggttggtaacctgcgagagactaaccctgtctagcaacttccagaagatcccggagcttgtagagtccggaaggctggacatcgagactgttgacactgctgtctcgcgcattctgagggccaagttcgaaatgggtctctttgagaaccccttccctgctgctcctgagtcggagtggcacaagttgatccacagctcagaggcggtcgagctcgctagaaccttggacaaggagtctatcgtcttgctggagaaccacaacaagacccttcctttggacaagagcggcagcatcgccgttattgggcccatggcccatggcttcatgaacgtgagtgattggcctatctcggcccagagcatctactaacttatatacagtatggagactacgtcgtttacaagagccagtaccgcggtgtaacccctctggacggcatcaaagctgctgttggcgacaacgccacgatcaactacgcccagggctgcgagcggtggagcaacgaccagtccggcttcgatgaagccattgcagcggccaagaagtcggacgtggctgttgtcgtcgtaggcacctggtctcgcgaccagaccgagctgtggtccggttacaacgcgacgtgagttgcctattgcttgcatgtaatcccgagacgtcgccgctaaccaccaacagaaccggcgagcacattgatctggataacctcgccctcgtcggtgcccaaggcccgctcgtcaaggctattatcgacaccggcgtccccaccatcgtggtcctctccagcggcaagcccatcacggacgtgacctggctcgcgaactcgaccgcggcgctcgtccagcaattctatccgtcggagcaaggcggcaatgcgctggccgacgtgctgttcggcgactacaacccctctggcaagctgtccgtcagcttcccgcgcttcgtcggcgacctcccgatctactacgacttcctcaattcggcgcgcaacatcggcccggccggccacgccttccccaacggcaccctggaattcgagagccagtacgtcctgggcgaccccaccgcgatctacgagttcgggtacggcaagagctacgtcgactttgactacggcgccgtcacgctgagccagaccaacgtgaccgcctcggacacggtgacggtccgcgtggacgtgaccaacactgacgccacccgcgacggcaccgaggtcgtgcaggtgtatgtgtcggatgtgatcgcgctggtggtggtgccgaaccgggcgctcaagggcttcgagaaagtggtcatcccggctggcacgaccaagacggtggagattgatttgcaggtggaggacctggggctctggaaccgctcgatgcagtatgtcgttgagccgggagcgtttgcggtgttggtgggcagcagttcggcggatatccgggggaatgcgacgttttatgttgagtaggtctgatgcggatgggtgagtggtacagtgggtggcggcaatcaccgggtcaattgcttcgatacctaccctgcttattgattgttcgctcaatcactttctttgaatacttctattaaagctcttgtgatgagtggctctagttggttgggatggtggttagttgaaggtagaagtgtagtctactgtctgtcatcaataaatagcgcgaaacagatggttattttgcagtcggggtgacaggtttttaaaactttatttgacgaaacgagaaaatatcagagagtaaatgattcgaaccgggatgactttgatctgagatctagacagtggtagccccggcataagtgaagataaagagagatgcaacgggtgctgttcgatcgatccgattgcccattacgtggacctggaaagaaaccctaaatgctcgtctagccgtcctgcagccattctcccctggtttaacgagctctccaccctccgctcgccgttggtttgaccccataccgcggggtcatagctcaaagacacagccaataagaacatatccgcatccccgaagtaggcctaaccgSEQ ID NO: 9: BGL3 cDNAAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL3 cDNA sequenceATG start site and signal sequence as well as stop codon are highlightedbold

atgggtgtcagtctgctagccaaggggcttgcgcttcttcacctctgcgccggtgtcactgccagtagcaatgactcaacaccgctgtacaagaaccccaatgcgccggtggaggatcgtgtcagtgaccttcigggccgcatgaccatccacgacaagacgggacaactgatgcaaggggatctcgcgaactggatgaacaccacaactggagcgttcaactacacgggtctggtcgcgaacatggaaatgaaggcgggaggattctacgttggatatgcggtcccgtgggactggatggtgaccaacatcaagcatgcgcaggactacctgatccataacaccacgcttggtattcctgcacttgttcagtcagaaggtattcatgggttcctggttcagaacgccactattttcaattcccctattgcatatggttgctccttcaaccgtgaggccgaagagacgttctcggaggacccataccttgctggcgagattggctacaactatgtgcaaggcctgcagagtctcaacgtttcggccactgtcaagcattttgcgggcttcagtgcccctgaacaggggttgaacactgcgccagttcagggaggagagcgatatcttcgtactacctacgatggcattcccgctgttgccgactggtttaccctgacaaaggttctgcgagaagagtggggtttcaagcactgggttttcagcgattcgggcgctactgatcgactgtgcaccgctttcaagctctgtcaagcctctccaatcgacatggaagcagtcaccctgcaggcactccctgctggtaacgacgttgagatgggtggtggctccttcaacttccagaagatcccggagcttgtagagtccggaaggctggacatcgagactgttgacactgctgtctcgcgcattctgagggccaagttcgaaatgggtctctttgagaaccccttccctgctgctcctgagtcggagtggcacaagttgatccacagctcagaggcggtcgagctcgctagaaccttggacaaggagtctatcgtcttgctggagaaccacaacaagacccttcctttggacaagagcggcagcatcgccgttattgggcccatggcccatggcttcatgaactatggagactacgtcgtttacaagagccagtaccgcggtgtaacccctctggacggcatcaaagctgctgttggcgacaacgccacgatcaactacgcccagggctgcgagcggtggagcaacgaccagtccggcttcgatgaagccattgcagcggccaagaagtcggacgtggctgttgtcgtcgtaggcacctggtctcgcgaccagaccgagctgtggtccggttacaacgcgacaaccggcgagcacattgatctggataacctcgccctcgtcggtgcccaaggcccgctcgtcaaggctattatcgacaccggcgtccccaccatcgtggtcctctccagcggcaagcccatcacggacgtgacctggctcgcgaactcgaccgcggcgctcgtccagcaattctatccgtcggagcaaggcggcaatgcgctggccgacgtgctgttcggcgactacaacccctctggcaagctgtccgtcagcttcccgcgcttcgtcggcgacctcccgatctactacgacttcctcaattcggcgcgcaacatcggcccggccggccacgccttccccaacggcaccctggaattcgagagccagtacgtcctgggcgaccccaccgcgatctacgagttcgggtacggcaagagctacgtcgactttgactacggcgccgtcacgctgagccagaccaacgtgaccgcctcggacacggtgacggtccgcgtggacgtgaccaacactgacgccacccgcgacggcaccgaggtcgtgcaggtgtatgtgtcggatgtgatcgcgctggtggtggtgccgaaccgggcgctcaagggcttcgagaaagtggtcatcccggctggcacgaccaagacggtggagattgatttgcaggtggaggacctggggctctggaaccgctcgatgcagtatgtcgttgagccgggagcgtttgcggtgttggtgggcagcagttcggcggatatccgggggaatgcgacgttttatgttgagtagSEQ ID NO: 10: BGL3 ProteinAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL3 protein sequenceSignal sequence is highlighted bold

mgvsllakglallhlcagvtassndstplyknpnapvedrvsdllgrmtihdktgqlmqgdlanwmntttgafnytglvanmemkaggfyvgyavpwdwmvtnikhaqdylihntllgipalvqsegihgflvqnatifnspiaygcsfnreaeetfsedpylageigynyvqglqslnvsatvkhfagfsapeqglntapvqggerylrttydgipavadwftltkvlreewgfkhwvfsdsgatdrlctafklcqaspidmeavtlqalpagndvemgggsfnfqkipelvesgrldietvdtavsrilrakfemglfenpfpaapesewhklihsseavelartldkesivllenhnktlpldksgsiavigpmahgfmnygdyvvyksqyrgvtpldgikaavgdnatinyaqgcerwsndqsgfdeaiaaakksdvavvvvgtwsrdqlelwsgynattgehidldnlalvgaqgplvkaiidtgvptivvlssgkpitdvtwlanstaalvqqfypseqggnaladvlfgdynpsgklsvsfprfvgdlpiyydflnsarnigpaghafpngtlefesqyvlgdplaiyefgygksyvdfdygavtlsqtnvtasdtvtvrvdvtntdatrdgtevvqvyvsdvialvvvpnralkgfekvvipagttktveidlqvedlglwnrsmqyvvepgafavlvgsssadirgnatfyve*SEQ ID NO: 11: BGL4 gDNAAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL4 gDNA sequenceATG start site and signal sequence as well as stop codon are highlightedboldIntrons are underlined

gccttaaggcctacgaaactcccagccacctacctaaccctcattcttgccctggatattccactgctgaaacctgcagatggccgtcttagagcctttcagttcttgtttttctgccgatatttacccgggagtcaggcaattctgcggagtattcggagcattaggtgggattgaccaactcggtcttcttgtacagtccactcgatgcattggactaaaggtataaatacgtcaggcagtcgcggaggcaaaatatcgagacaggcaagcgagtccagcagaatgtacggtctagcatcttttgcggccttgttgggcggtctttcactttgctccgcggccccgactgagcaaaatattacaagcgatacttacttttatggcgattctccgcccgtctacccctcccgtacgtgcaacactgtgcttttctaccatgtcctcaatactggcccaaccatctagcggacggtgccggaaccgggtcctgggccgcagcctacgtaaaggcaaagagttttgtcgctcaactcacagacgaggagaagatcaacttcacagccgggtatactgccagtaatggctgctcaggcaacattccagcagtctctcgtctcggcttccccgggctttgtgtttctgatgcaggaaatgggctggtaagtgcacaaggtcgcgctggattgaccatgaccgctaacatttacgcagcgtggaaccgattttgtgaatggctggccaagtggcattcacgtgggagcaaggtaagagatgtcacagccactgcatccgtggcaaacgagtaatgattccattctatctagctggaataaaactcttgcacaccaacgcgccctatacatgggacaggagttccatcgaaagggggtaaatctcctactgggcccagttgttggcccacttggtcgtgtcgtggaaggtggtcgtaactgggaaggctttgccaacgatccttacctcagcggtgcgctggtgtatgagactgtgcagggtgtgcaggaagccggtgtcggcgtttcggtcaaggtatgtgcataccatcttactggaaagtcatctgagtcatggctaagggttgaatcaaagcactacatcggaaacgagcaagagaccaacagaaaccccgagactgagaacggcgtcactgttgcctcagtttcctctaacatcgacgacaaaactatccatgaactgtatctttggccatttcaagacgccgttctggcgggaagtgtctccgtgatgtgctcgtacaaccgagtcaataattcctacagctgccagaacagtaagacgctgaatggtcttctgaagaccgaactgggcttccaaggtaagacggcctaatcaatcctccgcatcattgctgatatttgcaaggctacgttgtcactgattgggatgcccaacacgccgggatcgctggtgctaatgccggcctggacatggtcatgccaagtaccaccacatgggggtccaatctcacgacggccattgccaacggcagcatggaagcatcgagactggacgatatggtcactaggtaggttagatcaccttccacctttgatactcattcttactcaatcaggatcgttgcctcctggtaccaattaaaccaagacaccgactttccctcaccaggcattgggatgcccgtcgacgtctactccgagcatgagatcgtcattggaacttctgccgatgagaaggacgctttgctgcaaagcgcaatcgagggacacgtcctcgttaaaaaccaaggctccgtcctccctctccagtcgccacgcctagtctccgtgttcggctacgacgccaaagccccggagtccctggacctagcccccgtctctctaagtgtcgctccgcccacgcaaaacaacacactctgggtgggcggaggttccggtgccaacaatcccgcatacgttatcgcccccttggacgccatccagcaacaagcctatgaagacaacaccgccgtcctctgggacgtgacatcgttcgacccagacgtcgaccccgcctcccacgcctgcctagttttcatcaacagctacgcctccgaaggcagtgaccggacaggtctggtggactccgacagcgacacgctggtaaccaacgtcgccagcaaatgcaacaacacgatcgtcgtgatccacaacgcgggcatccgtctcgtgtataactggatcgaccacgagaacgttaccgctgtgatcttcgcccatcttccaggccaagacacaggcaaagctctcgtggatttactgtacggccgcgccaacccctcgggccgcctcccctacaccgtcgccaagcaggcctccgactacggcgcagtcttacaccccgtgcagcccgtcgcgccttacggcctgttcccgcaggacaacttcaccgagggagtatacatcgactaccgcgccttcgacaaggaggacatcactccgcagttcgagttcggcttcggtctctcgtacaccaccttcgattattccagcctgaacatccaacgcacctcggtcgaggccacacagtaccctcctgcggcggrtatccaggaaggaggcaacccgcggctgtgggatgttttggtcaacgtcacggcgcaggtggagaacgccggctcggtcgacggcgcggaggtcgcacagctgtacgtgggcatccccaatggaccgatccgtcagctgcgcgggttcgataaggtgaatatcctggctggggagacggtgacggtcacgttcgccttgacgagacgtgatttgagtacgtggagtgtggaggcgcaggagtgggagctgcagcagggagaatataaggtgtatgtgggacgatcgagtcgggatctgcctctgacggggagtttgaccttgtgaagtgtagtattgccaggagatgacacttggatgataattgaaaatcttccactccattctaatgcaatttagtctgcatctattcaactgctgtaaaacccgtcccaagtgcaaatcaaaccacaaaccacaaaagttaacataaccgtccatcgcagaccggtctcagaatcctacaacaatcaatataatcaccacgccccaccgatgcctcatctccaatacccgcgcccacccgcccccaacatcccagacttaaccgtccccaactcttcaccatcaacatcctcctccaccaagcctacatcccagacataatattcctcaactcctccgcatccccgaactaggccttaaccgSEQ ID NO: 12: BGL4 cDNAAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL4 cDNA sequenceATG start site and signal sequence as well as stop codon are highlightedbold

atgtacggtctagcatcttttgcggccttgttgggcggtctttcactttgctccgcggccccgactgagcaaaatattacaagcgatacttacttttatggcgattctccgcccgtctacccctccccggacggtgccggaaccgggtcctgggccgcagcctacgtaaaggcaaagagttttgtcgctcaactcacagacgaggagaagatcaacttcacagccgggtatactgccagtaatggctgctcaggcaacattccagcagtctctcgtctcggcttccccgggctttgtgtttctgatgcaggaaatgggctgcgtggaaccgattttgtgaatggctggccaagtggcattcacgtgggagcaagctggaataaaactcttgcacaccaacgcgccctatacatgggacaggagttccatcgaaagggggtaaatctcctactgggcccagttgttggcccacttggtcgtgtcgtggaaggtggtcgtaactgggaaggctttgccaacgatccttacctcagcggtgcgctggtgtatgagactgtgcagggtgtgcaggaagccggtgtcggcgtttcggtcaagcactacatcggaaacgagcaagagaccaacagaaaccccgagactgagaacggcgtcactgttgcctcagtttcctctaacatcgacgacaaaactatccatgaactgtatctttggccatttcaagacgccgttctggcgggaagtgtctccgtgatgtgctcgtacaaccgagtcaataattcctacagctgccagaacagtaagacgctgaatggtcttctgaagaccgaactgggcttccaaggctacgttgtcactgattgggatgcccaacacgccgggatcgctggtgctaatgccggcctggacatggtcatgccaagtaccaccacatgggggtccaatctcacgacggccattgccaacggcagcatggaagcatcgagactggacgatatggtcactaggatcgttgcctcctggtaccaattaaaccaagacaccgactttccctcaccaggcattgggatgcccgtcgacgtctactccgagcatgagatcgtcattggaacttctgccgatgagaaggacgctttgctgcaaagcgcaatcgagggacacgtcctcgttaaaaaccaaggctccgtcctccctctccagtcgccacgcctagtctccgtgttcggctacgacgccaaagccccggagtccctggacctagcccccgtctctctaagtgtcgctccgcccacgcaaaacaacacactctgggtgggcggaggttccggtgccaacaatcccgcatacgttatcgcccccttggacgccatccagcaacaagcctatgaagacaacaccgccgtcctctgggacgtgacatcgttcgacccagacgtcgaccccgcctcccacgcctgcctagttttcatcaacagctacgcctccgaaggcagtgaccggacaggtctggtggactccgacagcgacacgctggtaaccaacgtcgccagcaaatgcaacaacacgatcgtcgtgatccacaacgcgggcatccgtctcgtgtataactggatcgaccacgagaacgttaccgctgtgatcttcgcccatcttccaggccaagacacaggcaaagctctcgtggatttactgtacggccgcgccaacccctcgggccgcctcccctacaccgtcgccaagcaggcctccgactacggcgcagtcttacaccccgtgcagcccgtcgcgccttacggcctgttcccgcaggacaacttcaccgagggagtatacatcgactaccgcgccttcgacaaggaggacatcactccgcagttcgagttcggcttcggtctctcgtacaccaccttcgattattccagcctgaacatccaacgcacctcggtcgaggccacacagtaccctcctgcggcggttatccaggaaggaggcaacccgcggctgtgggatgttttggtcaacgtcacggcgcaggtggagaacgccggctcggtcgacggcgcggaggtcgcacagctgtacgtgggcatccccaatggaccgatccgtcagctgcgcgggttcgataaggtgaatatcctggctggggagacggtgacggtcacgttcgccttgacgagacgtgatttgagtacgtggagtgtggaggcgcaggagtgggagctgcagcagggagaatataaggtgtatgtgggacgatcgagtcgggatctgcctctgacggggagtttgaccttgtgaSEQ ID NO: 13: BGL4 ProteinAspergillus saccharolyticus bg14 protein sequenceSignal sequence is highlighted bold

myglasfaallgglslcsaapteqnitsdtyfygdsppvypspdgagtgswaaayvkaksfvaqltdeekinftagytasngcsgnipavsrlgfpglcvsdagnglrgtdfvngwpsgihvgaswnktlahqralymgqefhrkgvnlllgpvvgplgrvveggrnwegfandpylsgalvyetvqgvqeagvgvsvkhyigneqetnrnpetengvtvasvssniddktihelylwpfqdavlagsvsvmcsynrvnnsyscqnsktlngllktelgfqgyvvtdwdaqhagiaganagldmvmpstttwgsnlttaiangsmeasrlddmvtrivaswyqlnqdtdfpspgigmpvdvyseheivigtsadekdallqsaieghvlvknqgsvlplqsprlvsvfqydakapesldlapvslsvapptqnntlwvqqqsgannpayviapldaiqqqayedntavlwdvtsfdpdvdpashaclvfinsyasegsdrtglvdsdsdtlvtnvaskcnntivvihnagirlvynwidhenvtavifahlpgqdtgkalvdllygranpsgrlpytvakqasdygavlhpvqpvapyglfpqdnftegvyidyrafdkeditpqfefgfglsyttfdysslniqrtsveatqyppaaviqeggnprlwdvlvnvtaqvenagsvdgaevaqlyvgipngpirqlrgfdkvnilagetvtvtfaltrrdlstwsveaqewelqqgeykvyvgrssrdlpltgsltl*SEQ ID NO: 14: Beta-Tubulin Gene>Aspergillus AP, Aspergillus saccharolyticus beta-tubulin, partialcoding sequenceSEQ ID NO: 15: calmodulin Gene>Aspergillus AP, Aspergillus saccharolyticus calmodulin, partial codingsequenceSEQ ID NO: 16: ITS Gene>Aspergillus AP, Aspergillus saccharolyticus ITS, partial codingsequenceSEQ ID NO: 17: BGL1 Protein Signature SequenceBGL1, predicting the signature sequence to be between amino acids248-264

(LLKESELGFQGFVMSDWGA)SEQ ID NO: 18-28: gene primersITS Gene Primers

ITS1 (5′TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG3′) ITS2 (5′GCTGCGTTCTTCATCGATGC3′) ITS4(5′TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATG)Beta-Tubulin Gene Primers

Bt2a (5′GGTAACCAAATCGGTGCTGCTTTC) Bt2b (5′ACCCTCAGTGTAGTGACCCTTGGC)Calmodulin Gene Primers

Cmd5 (5′CCGAGTACAAGGAGGCCTTC) Cmd6 (5′CCGATAGAGGTCATAACGTGG)Primers for UP-PCR Fingerprinting

L45 (5′GTAAAACGACGGCCAGT) L15/AS19 (5′GAGGGTGGCGGCTAG)Degenerate Primers

5′CACGAAATGTACCTCtggcccttygc 5′CCTTGATCACGTTGTCGccrttcykcca,Where y is A or T.SEQ ID NO: 29: BGL1 gDNAAspergillus saccharolyticus BGL1 gDNA sequence including upstreamsequenceATG start site and signal sequence as well as stop codon are highlightedboldIntrons are underlined

cggttaaggcctaactcggagagggaccaacgggatgcagaggtggagatgcggggaatggctggggaggataataccgtatgtatccgcgtgtcatgacaccaggtataccttattctcgtctgccaactatcaccactgcagtgagtgcttgctcgctggcagacctgcggggaacaacacagactggactgatacaatggataccaccttccatcttcatcttcttgtcagcttctcgggtgtcattcaagtccgatatttgtccgattagcctgtatccgaagcggatcggaatgtaaacgaggaacgggataacttaagtttacggagtattctggttccagtcgagaatgctgggcagctcccggccgatcgtatgctgcttgctgcctgaatgataataattatctattttattctgagagaaaattcttggattattttcttgtattccttaaatctttataaaacagagtgcagttggagattcatgtccgagagagatgctgagtgttaagactgtaagtaagtagaggaagtggtaagttgtttggattgaactggaaagcgtcacaggattacatacaggcacctcccggccccactgcggtcggggaacttcttccagtccacagggcagcagtactcaatatccatccaatatccatccttccactacatccaccatcatcattgtttcccggatggcaggatactggcaccacgctctgacgtggggctcggccattccagttatcccagctcaattccctgcaggtctgctgcgaactattgaccgcgaaaatgaaagtttttttgggagttgatgttccacggtgccgtgcgcaggtgaatgcaagcaagagcagcgatccagagatggagagtgaatgaatcacggtaagtagcatcgcttgacttgcctgcgttccggtcgttccatgctttttctcgactctccctcgctgtctgtctctctctcgatctggattcctccctgtcgatccatccccatgcttagagccaaaacaactaagccgatggggctggctggccttcgactgctggcgggcgagacagcattcaaagagtggactacttgtggtagctccgcagcatcagccaagaaagtctaggttgatgttagttattcactcgtctgctggtctctgagtctcatagctgtggcgcccccctcctgccgttgctggggttatttatatcccctcccttccccccccctgatcggatatgtttgtcttcccacaataagttgtgttacctcgccatcttcctcaattgctcgagactagctcgtcccttccgcttccttcagctacctcgacgccatcatgaggctcagttggctcgaggctgccgccttgacggctgcatccgtcgtcagcgctgtatgttttgccgcttgtttggatggatgactgggtgtgaaactgacatttgtgctcgctaggatgaacttgccttcgcttcccccttctatccttccccttgggccaatggccagggcgagtgggcggatgcctacaagcgcgcagtggacattgtttcccagatgactctaaacgagaagatcaatctgaccaccagaactgggtatgggagcgtaattcatgcaatccgcatcgcctgctaacatattccaagctgggagctggagaagtgcgtcggtcaaactggtggtgttccaaggtatgcactgattgaatgggtttctactagaacggttaattgacaattgtgcctagactcgacatcggtggaatgtgtcttcaggacagtccgctcggagtccgtgattgtaagtctcgttaggagccgacatcaaacgtgtcttattaacaatgtgtcttccagcggactacaattcgggattccccgctggcgtcaacgttgctgcgacttgggacaggaagctcgcctatctccgtgggcaggccatgggtcaagaatttagtgacaagggagttgatgtccagctggggccggccgccgggcccctgggcagaagtcccgatggaggtcggaactgggaagggttttcgcccgacccagcactcactggtgtgctctttgccgagacgatcaagggtatccaagatgccggggtcatcgccacagctaagcactacattctcaatgagcaggaacatttccgccaagtctcggaggctgcgggctacggtttcaacatctctgataccatcagctccaacatcgacgacaaaaccattcatgagatgtacctctggcccttcgcggatgccgtgcgtgccggtgigggcgccgtcatgtgctcctacaaccagattaacaacagttacgcctgccagaacagctacacactgaacaagcttctgaagtcggagctcggctttcaaggatttgttatgtcggactggggtgctcaccacagtggtgtcggctctgctttggccgggttggatatgtctatgcccggtgacgtttcttttgattctgccaccagtttctggggtaccaacctgactgttgccgttctcaatggaaccgtcccgcagtggcgtgttgacgacatggccgttcgtatcatggctgcctactacaaggttggccgtgatcgcttgtaccagccgcccaacttcagctcctggactcgggacgagtacggcttcaagtactactactcccaggaaggcccctacgagaaggtcaatcaatatgtcaatgtgcagcgcaaccacagcgaagtcattcgcaaggtgggagccgacagcactgtcctgttgaagaacaacaatgctcttcctctgactggaaaggagcgcaaggttgctctcatcggcgaggatgctggatctaacgcctacggtgccaacggctgcagtgaccgcggatgcgacaacgggacgctcgccatggcctggggcagtggcaccgcagagttcccatacctggtcactcccgagcaggccattcaagccgaggtgctcaagaacaagggcagcacttacactatcaccgacaactgggcattgagccaggtggaggccctcgctaagacggctaggtgagcccttccattcatgatactggtctgccgtgacaatccactgacaagtcgctcgcagtgtctccctggtctttgtgaatgccgactcaggcgaaggctacatctcggttgatggcaacgagggtgaccgcaacaacctcaccctgtggaagaacggggacaatctcatcaaggctactgccagcaactgcaacaacaccattgttgtcatccactccgttggggctgttctggtggacgaatggtatgaccacccgaacgtcactgcgattctctgggctggcttgcctggccaggagtctggcaattctcttgccgatgtcctctacggccgcgtcaaccctggcggtaagacgcccttcacctggggcaagacgagagcgtcttacggggactacctggttcgggagcccaacaacggccacggagccccgcaggataacttctcggagggtgttttcatcgactaccgcggctttgacaagcgcaatgagaccccgatctacgagttcggacacggtctgagctacaccaccttcaactattcgggcctgcaggtggaggttctcaacacgtcttccagcactccggtcgctacccagaccaagcccgcacccactttcggcgagattggcaacgcgtcggactacttgtaccctgagggattggaccgaattaccgcgttcatctacccctggctcaactccacggacctcaaggagtcatctggtgacccggactatggggtggacaccgccaagtatattcccgccggcgccaccaacagctcggcccagcctgttctgccggctggcggtggcttcggtggtaacccgcgtctctacgatgagctgatccgtgtttcggttaccgtcaagaacactggtcgtgtcactggggacgccgtgcctcaattggtaagttgctcgtccggggagttggtagatcgcgtactaacatgagacagtatgtatcgcttggcggacctaatgagcccaaggtggtgctgcgccagttcgaccgcatcacgctccggccttcggaggagacggtgtggacgactactctgacccgtcgcgatctgtccaactgggatgttgcggctcaggactgggttattacttcctacccgaagaaggttcacgtgggtagctcttcgcgtcagctgccgcttcatgcggcgctgcctaaggtgcaatgagcggatggggattgggtgcgatggggatgatgctgtatacttctttccagtcgggagactacgaattgatgactatgttattgtaaagacgagcgatccagggatccaggtacaggaggggtgtagtgtaatgtaagcgtaatgatctggggtcgggtggctgtggcggtggaggtgaagcggcgggcgggcggaagacagcgacgtcatccgacttccaccggcacttcgtctccctttggtaacttccatcatttctccgacctctgcctggttttcgtctatccatcctgacgcctcaattcccatcatctttctttgaattttgctccacgcttgactttgaattgattgcctccaaaacaagccaccacaagacagcgcagccactcaaaccatcgaagggactctatccggaattggcDeposit of Microorganisms Under the Budapest Treaty

The following biological material has been deposited under the terms ofthe Budapest Treaty with the Centraalbereau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS),Uppsalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands; P.O. Box 85167, 3508 ADUtrecht, The Netherlands and given the following accession number

Deposit Accession Number CBS 127449 Aspergillus saccharolyticusAspergillus AP/Aspergillus saccharolyticus (=IBT 28509) Date of Deposit:Jun. 30, 2010

The strain has been deposited under conditions that assure that accessto the cultures will be available during the pendency of this patentapplication to one determined by foreign patent laws to be entitledthereto. The deposit represents a substantially pure culture of thedeposited strain. The deposit is available as required by foreign patentlaws in countries wherein counterparts of the subject application, orits progeny are filed. However it should be understood that theavailability of a deposit does not constitute a license to practice thesubject invention in derogation of patent rights granted by governmentalaction

NCBI Blast of NCBI Blast of

Items

The following items represent specific individual embodiments of thepresent invention.

Item 1. An isolated polypeptide comprising

a. an amino acids consisting of the SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13,

b. a biologically active sequence variant of SEQ NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and13, wherein the variant has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQNO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13, or

c. a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acidsof any of a) through b), wherein said fragment is a fragment of SEQ IDNO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13.

Item 2. The polypeptide according to any of the preceding Items, whereinsaid polypeptide is purified from Aspergillus saccharolyticus, such asdeposit no.: CBS 127449

Item 3. The polypeptide according to any of the preceding Items, whereinsaid isolated polypeptide is capable of degrading or convertinglignocellulosic material.

Item 4. The polypeptide according to any of the preceding Items, whereinsaid lignocellulosic material is obtained from agricultural residuessuch as straw, maize stems, corn fibers and husk, forestry waste such assawdust and/or wood-chips, and/or from energy crops such as willow,yellow poplar and/or switch grass.Item 5. The polypeptide according to any of the preceding Items, whereinsaid polypeptide is capable of hydrolyzing a β1-4 glucose-glucoselinkage.Item 6. An isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid or itscomplementary sequence being selected from the group consisting ofa. a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting of anamino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13,b. a biologicaly active sequence variant of the amino acid sequence,

wherein the variant has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ ID NO3, 4, 7, 10, and 13, and

c. a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acidsof any of a) through b), wherein said fragment is a fragment of SEQ IDNO 3, 4, 7, 10, and 13 or

d. SEQ ID NO.: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, or 29 or

e. a polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence having at least70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, or29, or

f. a polynucleotide hybridising to SEQ ID NO.: 3 or 4 and

g. a polynucleotide complementary to any of a) to f).

Item 7. The polynucleotide according to Item 8, wherein saidpolynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

a. a polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence consisting of SEQ IDNO.: 3, 4, 7, 10 and/or 13 or

b. a biologically active sequence variant of the amino acid sequence,

wherein the variant has at least 92% sequence identity to said SEQ IDNO.: 3, 4, 7, 10 and/or 13, and

c. a biologically active fragment of at least 30 consecutive amino acidof any of a) trough b), wherein said fragment is a fragment of SEQ IDNO.: 3, 4, 7, 10 and/or 13

Item 8. A recombinant nucleic acid vector comprising a polynucleotidesequence as defined on any of Items 6 to 7.

Item 9. A recombinant host cell comprising a polynucleotide as definedin any of Items 6 to 7 and/or a recombinant nucleic acid vector asdefined in Item 8.

Item 10. An isolated microorganism comprising a polypeptide as definedin any of Items 1-5, a polynucleotide as defined in any of Items 6 to 7and/or a recombinant nucleic acid vector as defined in Item 8.

Item 11. The microorganism according to Item 10, wherein saidmicroorganism is Aspergillus.

Item 12. The microorganism according to any of Items 10 to 11, whereinsaid microorganism is deposited in CBS under accession no.: CBS 127449,or progeny thereof.

Item 13. A method of producing a polypeptide as defined in any of Items1 to 5 comprising

a. cultivating a microorganism, where said microorganism produces saidpolypeptide,

b. recovering the polypeptide from said microorganism.

Item 14. The method according to Item 13, wherein said microorganismcomprises a polynucleotide as defined in any of Items 6 to 8 and/or arecombinant nucleic acid vector as defined in Item 8.

Item 15. The method according to any of Items 13 to 14, whereinmicroorganism is Aspergillus.

Item 16. The method according to any of Items 13 to 15, wherein saidmicroorganism is deposited in CBS under accession no.: CBS 127449, orprogeny thereof.

Item 17. A composition comprising at least one polypeptide as defined inany of Items 1 to 5, at least one recombinant host cell as defined inItem 9 and/or at least one microorganism as defined in any of Items 10to 12.

Item 18. A kit-of parts comprising at least one polypeptide as definedin any of Items 1 to 5, at least one recombinant nucleic acid vector asdefined in Item 8, at least one recombinant host cell as defined in Item9, at least one isolated microorganism as defined in any of Items 10 to12 and/or at least one composition as defined in Item 17, and at leastone additional component.Item 19. The kit-of parts according to Item 18, wherein said additionalcomponent is selected from the group consisting of cellulases,endogluconase, cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase, hemicellulase,esterase, laccase, protease and peroxidise.Item 20. A method for degrading or converting a lignocellulosicmaterial, said method comprising a) incubating said lignocellulosicmaterial with at least one polypeptide as defined in any of Items 1 to5, at least one microorganism as defined in any one of Items 10 to 12,at least one recombinant host cell as defined in Item 9, at least onecomposition as defined in Item 17 and/or at least one kit-of parts asdefined in any of Items 18 to 19 and b) recovering the degradedlignocellolosic material.Item 21. The method according to Item 20, wherein said lignocellulosicmaterial is obtained from straw, maize stems, forestry waste, sawdustand/or wood-chips.Item 22. The method according to any of Items 20 to 21, said methodcomprising treating said lignocellulosic material with at least oneadditional component.Item 23. The method according to any of Items 20 to 22, wherein said atleast one additional component for treating said lignocellulosicmaterial is selected from the group consisting of cellulase,endogluconase, cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase, hemicellulase,esterase, laccase, protease and peroxidise.Item 24. The method according to any of Items 20 to 23, wherein saidlignocellulosic material is at least partly converted or degraded tomonosaccharide glucose units.Item 25. The method according to any of Items 20 to 24, wherein at least50% of said lignocellulosic material is degraded or converted tomonosaccharide glucose units.Item 26. A method for a method for fermenting a cellulosic material,said method comprisinga. treating the cellulosic material with at least one polypeptide asdefined in any of Items 1 to 5, at least one recombinant host cell asdefined in Item 9, at least one microorganism as defined in any of Items10 to 12, at least one composition as defined in Item 17, at least onekit-of parts as defined in any of Items 18 to 19, andb. incubating the treated cellulosic material with one or morefermenting microorganisms.c. obtaining at least one fermentation product.Item 37. The method of Item 26 wherein said at least one fermentationproduct is at least one alcohol, inorganic acid, organic acid,hydrocarbon, ketone, amino acid, and/or gas.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of degrading or converting alignocellulosic material, said method comprising incubating saidlignocellulosic material with a composition comprising a polypeptidehaving beta-glucosidase activity comprising: an amino acid sequence SEQID NO: 4 or a sequence variant of SEQ ID NO: 4, wherein said variant hasat least 96% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:
 4. 2. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein said lignocellulosic material is at least partlydegraded to monosaccharide glucose units.
 3. The method according toclaim 2, wherein at least 50% of said lignocellulosic material isdegraded to monosaccharide glucose units.
 4. The method according toclaim 1, wherein said monosaccharide glucose units are incubated withone or more fermenting microorganisms thereby producing a fermentationproduct.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said fermentationproduct is recovered from the fermentation.